The Ticking Life
by DragoonHP
Summary: No summary, as it will reveal too much. You just need to know that it starts from the point where JKR left in Chapter 36 of Book 7. Peole who like to criticise for mere fun, don't read it.
1. Chapter 0

**Author's Note****:** Hello. The story you are going to read is my _**Dream Project**_. I have planned it from nearly three months and the other stories I have wrote/writing were/are for refining my technique, so I can make this a pleasant experience. I was supposed to wait more, as I have planned that I will write it after I complete one of my long fics. But yesterday, I was writing a new poem cum song and the feeling of this story got so hard that I decided right there and then that I will write this story, no matter what happen. So, I started writing it at exactly **10:06 PM** on **02, June, 2010, Wednesday**.

This is an A/U story which follows _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows_ up to Chapter 36, '_The Flaw in the Plan_'. It does not follow epilogue and as a matter of fact I have disregarded most of JKR interviews like I usually do. It's an emotional story, whose rough plan I have had in my mind. Some of its scene had made me cry.

The story is rated T for the time being. But it will be turned M in the upcoming chapters.

**DISCLAIMER****:** I own none of the things created by JKR in the Harry Potter world.

**INSPIRATION****:** We now come to the sad part. To be true I don't know from where I actually got the inspiration. Maybe it was just fully my idea, but to some extent I think it was favoured by a book, I have read in PDF. It was about a true story, it was a true story. And I'm really sorry I can't name it now, because it will reveal much. But I will name it at the end of this fic.

**REQUEST****:** For all those people who somehow hate me [I'm not aware of any, but still], don't try to take out your anger on this fic. And when I say this I'm damn serious about it. And when I say that, I bloody mean it. If I find even one over-the-line criticism for this story, I will make my best to have that person pay. Because this story is very much near my heart and there's nothing in whole and as a matter of fact, there's nothing in whole wide spread of internet I care more about. This fic is like a baby to me, a child of mine and I would be damned if I let anyone trash it. For the moment Anonymous reviews are enabled for this story, but if I ever found that power being mutilated I will disable it and do everything in my power to find the person.

It's not like I don't like my other stories, I do, but none of them is as close to my heart as this story is. And I am not trying to scare-off criticisers; I am merely pleading that don't criticise it when there's nothing wrong in it. So, I request, please don't do anything which will left me fuming because I myself don't what my reaction will be. I want to say so much more, but than they will just come in the more dangerous field… So anyway, I had made my points clear.

**Chapter's Note****:** I usually don't post these. But I am inclined to post it here. This chapter wasn't planned; I just added it to give myself some more time, before I start writing the actual story and to bind readers to read the story. This is a rather short chapter, because I couldn't dare to reveal much. So without further ado, I present you the story, my _**Dream Project**_.

_**The Ticking Life  
Chapter — 0  
Snippet's of Future**_

The air around the Burrow was gentle and caressing, breezing through the trees. It left a pleasant sensation when it breezed through the clothes and hit the skin. The blue sky was dusted with white clouds, which were sprawled randomly around it. Sun was shining over the Burrow; the sunlight warm and soothing. The surroundings were pleasant enough to lay on the garden grass and enjoy the weather.

Two children were running around, laughing and enjoying themselves. The one, who looked older, changed his appearance continuously, his hairs turning from black to red to turquoise to green, while the smaller one chased the older; both enjoying themselves to their fullest.

"HARRY JAMES WEASLEY," shouted a bushy brown haired woman. Her hairs were tied back with a ribbon in a messy ponytail. She looked happy, yet there was a sad look on her face, which was reflected in her eyes.

"Yes Mum," said Harry, his hazel eyes looking innocently at her Mum.

"Stop running around like you are being chased by a herd of hippogriffs," said her Mum, looking a bit defeated.

"But Mum," said Harry, "you didn't say anything to Ted. He was the one who started to run first and I was just catching him." He pouted, his eyes turning big and soulful.

"You are just two," said her Mum, slumping in a corner.

"I will be three soon," said Harry, a little indignantly.

"I know," said her Mum.

"Aunt Hermione," said Ted, "what is today's date?"

"Why?" asked Hermione, "today is 28th of July."

"Mum," said Harry, excitedly, "are we going to meet uncle Harry. I read him about in books, he killed Voldemort."

"Yes dear," said Hermione, her eyes getting a far away look, "yes, we are going to meet him."

"I will make him proud," said Ted, puffing out his chest.

"I'm sure," said Hermione, smiling, "now let's take you back home."

"Aren't you going to meet Aunt Ginny?" enquired Ted.

"I was," said Hermione, glancing at her watch, "But one hour has passed since we were supposed to meet and I don't think she is coming now."

"Okay," both the boys mumbled as Hermione got up and brushed her clothes. A _popping_ sound came from a distance and they saw a petite red head figure running to them.

"Aunt Ginny," both the boys squealed and ran to gave her a hug. Ginny scooped both the boys in her arm, looking at them adoringly and after a while of cradling, she put them down.

"You are getting quite heavy Ted," Ginny teased, but like Hermione her eyes held a sad and far away look.

"I'm not," Teddy mumbled while Harry laughed aloud and started running when Ted growled, "You will pay for it."

The two boys resumed their playing, while the women walked to a secluded corner and sat on the grass. It gave them privacy and a good eye on the two boys.

"They look happy, don't they?" asked Ginny looking at the playing boys.

"Get to the point," said Hermione rather stiffly and coldly.

Ginny blanched but didn't reciprocate. She behaved as she was subjected to these kinds of behaviour quite often. Instead she ducked her head, sighed and said in a voice thick with emotions, "Do you think he have forgiven me?" Tears started rolling down her eyes as her body shook with sobs.

Hermione stiffened more, looked at Ginny with an expression of somewhere between disdain and pity and said, her voice a little softer but still holding the cold tone, "He will surely have. But I will never. After what you did to him, after what your family did to him, I will rather embrace death then forgiving you lot."

"Don't say that," said Ginny, looking up, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"_Don't_." Hermione laughed derisively, "You should have thought about it before doing _that_, doing _that _—" Hermione broke off as tears spilled from her eyes and her body shook with sobs.

Ginny and Hermione both cried, but none of them embraced the other; none of them gave the other a shoulder to cry on. The tension and the bitterness between them were palpable. Hermione was the first one to regain her composure. She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and said, "Do you have anything important to talk about or I should go?"

"Give me that for a minute," said Ginny, her voice pleading, as she outstretched her hands in a begging manner.

"No," Hermione said, refusing point blankly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Please Hermione," begged Ginny, her head hung low.

"I said it one time and I will repeat it thousand time; no," said Hermione, glaring at Ginny.

"It's as much as mine as it is yours," said Ginny, lifting her head to look at Hermione. Her face was red and her red tresses were falling all over her face. Her eyes had a steely glint in them.

"Don't demand in front of me," said Hermione standing up, "you have lost that power a long time ago."

"I am not demanding," said Ginny standing up, "I just want it for five minutes. Then you can have it back, just for five minutes, Hermione, just for five minutes. Please Hermione." As Ginny said this, her eyes filled with tears. She outstretched her hands again, joined the palms by their sides and hung her head low between the gap of her arms.

Hermione, for a moment, looked like she might give her what she was asking for, but then her expressions changed and turned hard. She turned around, started to walk toward the boy and said coldly, without turning to look at her, "You should have thought about it before Ginny. Than you could have much better then what you are asking for now."

Ginny stood there, stunned in silence. The soothing breeze flew through her hair, whipping them around as she looked at the retreating back of her former best friend.

"Let's go boys," said Hermione, "we have nothing to do here and we don't belong here anymore."

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

Wizards and witches were rushing around; all of them looking around frantically. They were in the Ministry of Magic; the highly polished dark wood floor was looking grim, because of all the shoe dirt and crumbs of hastily eaten breakfast. The fireplaces which were gilded in the wall were roaring green continuously, as witch and wizard continue to arrive with a soft _whoosh_. Everyone seemed to be in frenzy and no one took notice of the other.

No one noticed a tall, gangly looking redhead entering the Ministry from a fireplace. As he strode toward the lift, someone called to his retreating back, "Mr. Weasley, over here."

The redhead stopped in his tracks, as all the other people present there too. Their eyes flew to the redhead and some of them started yelling, "Ron"; "Mr. Weasley"; while some of them continued to move, merely nodding in his direction.

Ron scowled and scurried toward his caller.

"Bloody hell Rupert," said Ron, through gritted teeth, "can't you say it after casting an amplifier charm on your throat."

"Sorry, Mr. Weasley," said Rupert, "but the Minister called you immediately. You are late."

"I'm not," said Ron, walking toward the lift, "I was in bloody waiting line for the Floo to get clear."

"You could have just Apparated or entered from the visitor entrance," said Rupert, curtly.

"Apparition, I couldn't," said Ron, looking grim.

"And if I may ask, why sir?" said Rupert, looking up at him.

"Last time I did that, I landed on a witch who had just Apparated here," said Ron, his ears turning red, "Do you know how embarrassing it was for me? She was ready to hex me into next week, but stopped when she saw my face."

They both climbed in the lift and not even a moment later it was cramped with people.

"Oh," said Rupert, a small smile on his lips, "And what about the visitor entrance?"

"It is cramped too," said Ron, looking resigned, "And people would have hogged me if they would have seen me there. So, Floo was the safest."

"I understand sir," said Rupert, climbing out of the lift. They both walked to the end of a long corridor. Rupert rapped the large highly polished mahogany gates and the door opened. They both strode forward in the room. Rupert immediately left Ron side and started conversing with a blonde woman sitting on a table just some metres away from the second set of wood gate, on which was written '_Minister of Magic_' in gold cursive alphabets.

Rupert strode forward, pushed the door open and moved aside. Ron headed in and the doors closed back, as soon as he walked in.

"Ron," said the Minister. He was a tall, bald black man with a gold earring in one ear.

"Minister," said Ron, giving a nod.

"Stop the formalities and call me Kingsley," said Kingsley as he motioned for Ron to take a seat. Ron nodded, sat on a chair and sighed.

When Ron didn't speak up, Kingsley took the lead and said, "How's everything going? Everything working out as planned?"

Ron sighed again, leaned on the back of the chair and said, "Yes. The surprise is coming very well. We will have it ready by 30th, one day before his birthday. Do you think he —"

"Yes Ron, I believe that," said Kingsley interjecting him, "If he knew about it, he would have supported it."

"Somehow I don't believe it," said Ron, and for the first time his face showed pain and self loathing, "Anyway thanks for all your help. If it wasn't for your help, I would still have been drowned in all the paperwork."

"It's nothing." Kingsley waved it off with a wave of his hand and said, smirking, "And I believe you will be ready with a scrubber to scrub the Atrium floor when this is over."

Ron smiled, but it was a forced smile, as he said, "I will do anything to make a small dent in the inhumanly amount of penance I need to do in order to pay back for my sins."

Kingsley looked at him sadly as a tear escaped from Ron's eye and slid down his cheek.

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

"Ah Minerva," came a voice from a portrait. The portrait occupant had silvery-white long hairs and beard and had twinkling blue eyes. He was wearing half-moon spectacles and had a grim look on his face.

"Yes, Albus," said a woman. She was old, her hairs were knotted in a bun and her face was lined with wrinkles and loose skin.

"I have heard rumors about happening of something," said Albus, "And I was hoping that you would know better than me, seeing that now I am only able to roam picture frames and you are better acquainted than me."

"The rumors are correct," said Minerva, "Ron Weasley is planning something for Harry's birth… birthday."

"And do you know, what he is planning?" asked Albus, his eyes loosing the twinkle.

"No, I don't know," said Minerva, "Only some handful of people know what he is planning and all of them refuse to divulge any detail."

"Ah," said Albus, sitting in his throne like chair and looking old, "I hope it is good and meets his standard. Otherwise Hermione will blast all of them to pieces."

"True," said Minerva, smiling fondly yet with a trace of looming sadness.

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

Ginny stood alone, watching her former best friend, heading toward the Burrow to use the fireplace and get out of here. The wind was still breezing around, as pleasantly as ever, but the atmosphere around the Burrow had became rather stiff. There was the _click_ of closing of the door and barely audible _whoosh_ of Floo, confirming Hermione departure. Ginny slumped to her knees, her body wrenching with sobs, all the while tears spilled from her eyes because she had still kept a sliver of hope that Hermione would turn around and answer her and would let her use that. But she hadn't.

"Am I so bad?" Ginny cried, banging her small fist on the ground.

"She won't let me talk to you, she won't let me near you," said Ginny, her brown eyes pleading with the ground to understand, "Why? I love you, Harry. I was a fool and now I know. But, but, but…"

Ginny sucked a noisy breath and tipped her head on the ground. The _thump_ was rather loud and painful, but Ginny ignored it. She gazed in the sun, until her eyes were dazzled and started to throb. All the while, she continued to chant under her breath, "I love you Harry, I love you Harry, I love you Harry…"

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

"It's a beautiful house. Isn't it?" said a silver haired wizard, who had a high pitch, wheezy voice.

"Yes, it is Elphias," said the other wizard. He had thick straw coloured hair and square jaw face.

"And it has the most beautiful name, Sturgis," said Elphias, his eyes glistening with tears, "The most beautiful name I have ever seen for a house."

"Some will say it is very peculiar name for a house," said Sturgis.

"Then they are a bunch of fools," said Elphias, "It is a reminder of Dumbledore and at the same time, it tells what kind of house it is."

"True, true," agreed Sturgis, "very true, indeed."

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

A redhead figure was working in a corner, his wand a whirl of colour. He was of average built. Cauldrons around him smoked and bubbled, casting different colour hazes around the one window room.

"What are you doing down there, all alone?" came a woman voice. She sounded irritated.

"Working," replied the redhead almost automatically.

"You have been there for two days," said the woman, exasperated, "You haven't even been on the shop George, for Merlin sake."

"Sorry love," said George, "but what I am doing is very important and is of the top most priority. I can't delay it."

The woman entered the workshop. She was a tall black girl, who now had a scowl on her face.

"What is this all about?" snarled the woman, making George jump.

"Relax Angelina," said George, "its all for the big surprise Ron is planning for Harry's birthday."

"Oh," said Angelina, "so why didn't you tell me before. I can manage the shop pretty well myself. You work here and complete them." She finished with a tone that was meant to be followed.

"Will do it love," said George, giving his wife a peck on her cheek, before giving his full attention to his work.

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

"Get up love," said a blonde haired, pink face woman.

"What?" mumbled a brown haired man, still sprawled on the bed, his eyes closed.

"Get up Neville, NOW," said the woman and she sounded irritated. Neville shot up from the bed shaking his head to remove the last traces of sleep from his eyes.

"Get ready," said the woman, "you need to meet Ron."

"Yes, I remember." Neville yawned, standing up from the bed. He strode toward the wardrobe and yanked the door open.

"Your clothes are in the bathroom dear," said the woman.

"Thanks Hannah," replied Neville, absentmindedly.

"No problem," said Hannah, "just make sure everything goes fine."

"I will," replied Neville with a small smile.

"Now run to the bathroom," ordered Hannah, "It's going to be evening in an hour or two and you still haven't bath. _Men_"

Neville chuckled and headed toward the bathroom.

**Author's Note****:** Hello once again. Hope you like the chapter. Kick my review toll to 24 and I will update. Reason. Because I have three stories to update and if I even for a second sat for writing it, I will not be able to stop. Like last night, I was writing **Chapter 11** of **The Year Alone**, but then this struck me and I left it.

And if you are wondering why I posted this much of non-story material it is because I don't want anything to be written when the story starts. Meaning my usual A/N and reviewing thanking note will not be present in the fic upcoming chapters, or maybe I will make a permanent chapter in which I will post A/N and thank my reviewers. What do you think about it? Tell me.

Here's the first five line of my poem cum song, which steeled my resolve:

The clock is ticking,  
The world is spinning,  
And everything continues to move.  
But I… stand steady,  
Looking for you over the frenzy.

The poem more/less song is named '_**Waiting**_'. You will probably see the full poem more/less song in one of my fics. If you like it and want to read more of my poem more/less songs, review and PM me.

And if you can, answer the poll in my profile.

Thanks.


	2. Journal Updated 29 July, 2011 Update 2

_**The Ticking Life  
Journal  
**_

Hello to all the good people who are taking time out from their busy life to read my **Dream Project**. If you have read **Chapter ****—**** 0**, you would remember my crazy idea for dedicating a chapter to A/N, C/N, R/T etc.

I contemplated about it and found myself whole heartedly agreeing with it. So here it comes. Any update of the Journal will be notified in the chapter's drop down box. The Chapter name, which currently is **Journal** would become, **Journal Updated *DD/MM/YY*.** I will update the Journal even on the lowest development of my story and the expected date on which it will be published. If I don't get lazy, which is a disease I'm very prone too.

Now let's get started.

**P.S.:** In between, if you have any question related to my story, and when I say story, it here means **'The Ticking Life'** PM me. Refrain from reviewing this chapter and if you have a question you think all would be concerned about, post it as an Anonymous review.

* * *

_**Chapter — 0 **_

**CHAPTER NOTES:**

***22, June, 2010. Sometime around 16:30 or 04:30 PM***

Said pretty much everything in the chapter. Nothing left to say.

***21, May, 2011****, 09:26 AM***

Some small mistakes have been corrected, the most prominent one being using "Her Mum" to signify Hermione when talking for Harry. And thanks for **slytherinsal** for pointing this out.

Re-posting Date: **21, May, 2011**

Word Count:** 2,603 (Excluding A/N and C/N)**

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**REVIEW ANSWERS:**

***22, June, 2010. Sometime around 16:30 or 04:30 PM***

Thanks to **Hunter the son of Sirius**, **Bramble Icedancer**, **keeperoliver**, **miss-harry-potter-weasley**, **golfnjen83**, **HyperLily**, **AryaAliceLuna** and **Husain** for reviewing my story.

Now answers to my reviews, publicly;

**Hunter the son of Sirius**: I planned that. :-)

**Bramble Icedancer**: The next chapter will start from the point where JKR left in **Chapter 36 'The Flaw in the Plan'** in the book **Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows**.

**keeperoliver**: Hey keeper, I in no way mentioned that Hermione marries Ron. :-) Maybe Bill divorces Fleur and marries Hermione, or Hermione marries Percy, or she marries Charlie. You can't say for sure.

**miss-harry-potter-weasley**: Thanks for your encouraging words. And here I was thinking that people will pointedly ignore it. But I will take my chance to add here that I was serious about what I said, and I will continue to be.

**golfnjen83**: Thanks and please post my grammar mistakes. The reason I don't have a beta are:  
1. I don't want anyone in between the good people who read my story and me;  
2. And I want to increase the standard of my English.

So feel free to point my mistakes out. I will be grateful.

**HyperLily**: Thank you. I too hope that every one of my **Chapter — 0** reviewer will stick by my side till the end.

**AryaAliceLuna**: Thank you [I'm saying these two words more than it is healthy]. Oh you liked them; I wrote them sometime in night and without thinking much. Maybe I was thinking about the ending…

Cum around my area, depicts more or less. Don't get the wrong idea. Though from now on, I will try not to use the term.

**Husain**: My mystery reviewer. If you haven't registered, register man. It only takes some seconds, or maybe a minute and then you are ready to go.

***22, May, 2011, 03:46 AM***

**Dreamer15147:** Thank you... :-)

**Strolling Along**: Thanks for the long and enlightening comment.

**slytherinsal**: Thanks for reviewing :-)

***26, July, 2011, 20:56 or 08:56 PM***

**mai-1**: Your idea is really fascinating…

*******29, July, 2011, 16:16 or 04:16 PM***

******jess:** Thanks for the review... and I really wish that the story becomes less vague as you read it...

Word Count: **2,608**

Re-posting Date: **21, May, 2011****22, May, 2011**

* * *

_**Chapter — 1 **_

*******22, June, 2010, 16:52 or 04:52 PM***

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

Hello to all, who are hopefully awaiting the update.

*Started writing at **02:30 PM, June, 19, 2010** and stopped at **03:25 PM, June, 19, 2010**. Drafted 1,109 words for the story in the aforementioned time.*

It sucks. It in all honesty, sucks big time. I don't know how I should write my emotions. Should I let the ending influence the start or should I hold an impassive front? It is literally burning my brain, thrashing it around like a football. I don't know what should I do, or how should I do. I have planned the big goal, but these small flagstones look impossible to cross. It's not that I don't know what to write, I just don't know how to.

Even if I manage to pen them out, I don't know how I am going to phrase it properly. I am going mad and I have other stories to update too. Should stop now…

The estimated update date: **28, June, 2010**.

The estimated word count: **8,000 — 10,000 words in MS Word**.

Now some of you should be wondering why I'm taking this much time. Usually I wake up a full night, complete the story and the next morning I post it. But not with this one, not with my **Dream Project**. **The Ticking Life** is very special to me and every step will be taken after much consideration.

***22, June, 2010,**** 08:50 AM***

No progress and today is the deadline I made myself. So, it turns out that I should just write in my old style, which is don't think,. Just type what's come in your brain. Maybe it will help me after all.

A little typo has been fixed in **Chapter — 0**. Harry James Weasley was going to turn three not four. To be honest with you, at the start I didn't give a damn about the age. But while I was in the place where my thinking is let's say, the best, I revisited whole of the basic plot of the story and the age mattered much. So, I made him younger by a year.

And hopefully, I will start writing today again and in two days complete it.

The estimated update date: **01, July, 2010**.

The estimated word count: **8,000 — 10,000 words in MS Word**.

***30, June, 2010,**** 03:06 AM***

Finally after 0 hours of sleep for the past 25 hours, in which I rarely wrote for 6 hours, mind you, I am very close to completing the chapter. It will be around 8,000 — 9,000 and will be posted today.

In the starting I felt something remarkably like writer's block, but then on further analysis I found that it was because of my own mistake. I was trying to analyse things more than it is digestible by my system, which is my brain. So, I got back to my old ways. Continue writing even when you don't know what you are going to write after the word you are currently writing.

In all honesty, I didn't have a clue how this chapter was going to proceed. I have planned all the major things but not the minor things. And looking at it now, hell minor events are more than the major events.

Things got complicated because of the fact that I don't want to repeat anything I have written in my other fics. I want this fic to be a source of inspiration, not this to be inspired by some events from my other fics or the fics by other authors which I have read. Indirectly I'm sure they will affect how the story is phrased [I remembered something, will mention it after this] but I don't want it to affect my mentality.

Now on phrasing, I remembered something. This chapter drained me out of words. This type of feeling, I only felt once; when I started writing Fan Fiction. But feeling it now, it's kind of disturbing. Though I think this is one of the downsides of not being a native speaker of the language.

I wrote this story in various ticking of clock, which were quite irregular. So, I won't be able to post them and as you care to start with. Some time I wrote a single line in an hour or sometime I wrote 1,000 words in 40 minutes, like yesterday. It all depends on Writer's Stroke*. Ah, but my family. As soon as I geared up, someone would call me for something or just shout out loud, breaking my concentration. Then I will loose the rhythm and ultimately the Writer's Stroke effect.

{* = Term invented by me, **DragoonHP**. Depicts a period of time when you are in full writing mode, i.e., no shortage of ideas and plot and all the other mental things, you need to write.}

Some of the major one's are:

*Started at **04:13 PM 28, June, 2010** stopped at unrecorded time, probably letting the program run and choosing to play some games. Checked the first draft for mistakes and improvements and drafted 743 words for the story*

*Started at **01:53 PM, 29, June, 2010** stopped at the end of the story which means sometime in **30, June, 2010**. Done after various short breaks. Checked the story for mistakes and improvements and drafted 6,594 words for the story*

Word count: **8,769**

Release date: **30, June, 2010**.

After this I'm off to write a chapter for '**The World Ahead**'. '**The World Ahead**' readers should review the story now. [hint, hint]

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**CHAPTER NOTES:**

***30, June, 2010,**** 03:31 AM***

The starting chapter of my _**Dream Project**_. Hope you lot liked it. It was a — what's the word, what's the goddamn word — trouble, no, spat, no, legacy, no, I can't think of. Fill it yourself.

I have tried to write the chapter as best as I could and though there are some weak points in the chapter, the ultimate result is fine. About the weak points, I just can't make myself to change them. I'm just too much emotionally attached to my stories and to this one, I can't even find words to describe how I feel.

Now enough rambling. About the chapter, read it for yourself. I don't want to spoil the fun, just remember that most of them, heck the entire chapter was unplanned.

If you have any doubts or find any mistakes in my writing, leave them in the review or send them in a PM. I will send you the answer and post it here as soon as I can.

And please review. When people don't review, I will be frank with you, I don't want to write the next chapter. But I still do, but it can only take me there. Now before you comment, one or two reviews does help, but when you see your alert list filled with subscriptions and a good number of hit and still low reviews, your spirit fell.

But here I won't complain because all most all of my Story Alerter have reviewed, except a new one. But I do hope to see you all again and the new one too. Sorry I don't remember the new guy's name.

So, I'm asking for 8 reviews, our alert count.

***09, July, 2010,**** 02:15 AM***

Ah no reviews. I changed the chapter according to the mistakes pointed out by **AryaAliceLuna**. And if **AAl**, you are thinking about how I rephrased the line you mentioned, it is like this:

_So she just stood there, letting the time to trickle away. She just wanted to rush to his side and to hold him tight, never to release him again. But something was stopping her. It could very well be jealousy or it could just be the fear of loosing him. So, she just stood there. Some part of her hope that Hermione would see her and would beckon her to take her position. But Hermione seemed to concentrate on the task at hand which according to Ginny was her._

_TO_

_So she just stood there, letting the time to trickle away.__All she wanted was__ to rush to his side and to hold him tight, never to release him again. But something was stopping her. It could very well be jealousy or it could just be the fear of loosing him __again__. So, she just stood there__ as she stared at Hermione__. Some part of her __hoped__ that Hermione would see her and would beckon her to take her position. But Hermione seemed__ rather too focused __on the task at hand, which according to Ginny was __rightfully hers__._

Some of the changes in the above paragraph were missed by AAL, but a person can't find all the mistakes. I have founded some and I will not be pasting them here. But if you care, they consists the formatting one, some missed words and the small errors.

New story static changes after editing:

Word count: **8,825**

Re-posting date: **09, July, 2010**.

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**STORY DETAILS:**

*******30, June, 2010, 03:42 AM***

Hits: 213 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 8 :-|

Favourite Story: 0 :-(

Community: 0 :-|

*******09, July, 2010, 03:14 AM***

Hits: 600 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 10 :-|

Favourite Story: 4 :-|

Community: 0 :-|

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**REVIEW ANSWERS:**

*******30, June, 2010, 03:48 AM***

Hopefully, I'll have some reviews soon enough.

*******09, July, 2010, 02:10 AM***

After waiting for many days for more reviews; I'm finally forced to reply to the reviews here:

**HyperLily**: Thanks for the encouraging words. I surely needed them.

**AryaAliceLuna**: Ah… Thanks for pointing out the mistakes. And I do think that your thought of changing trickle to tick suits. But it has just more or less become my trademark style to use trickle. But I will try to change it, hopefully…

***22, May, 2011, 03:50 PM***

**Dreamer15147: **A really late reply, but I'll continue the story till the very end...

* * *

_**Chapter — 2 **_

***26, September, 2010, ****02:17 or 14:17 PM***

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

Hello to all.

*Started writing at **01:54 PM, September, 26, 2010** and stopped at **02:17 PM, September, 26, 2010**. Drafted 490 words for the story in the aforementioned time.*

Finally writing again. It feels so good. Nothing more to say, for now. Bye.

***25, March, 2011, 11:25 PM***

*Started writing at **somewhere around 10:35 PM, March, 25, 2010** and stopped at **11:27 PM, March, 25, 2010**. Drafted around 600 words; planning to continue it tomorrow.*

I may even give out the first 2,000 or 3,000 word as a preview for the actual chapter.

Just realised it had been more than eight moths since I posted chapter 1. Am I lazy!

*******April, 03, 2011, 01:15 AM***

Completed the chapter…  
Yay…

Finally… my long struggle comes to an end for the time being…  
Just proof read the chapter again and I will post it tomorrow, sorry, today in the morning…  
I just hope that it was well worth the wait…

Honestly speaking, I'm not happy with some part of it but I can't come up with worthy replacements… and not to mention that I desperately want to update **The Ticking Life**…

Word count: **8,642**

Release date: **03, April, 2011**

***May, 21, 2011, 11:55 PM***

Fixed some errors, namely his-her confusion, replaced some words and added a complete line. (The underlined line is the one I added).  
_And her eyes almost popped out of their holes; Ginny body was lit with spells fires. The approaching jet of lights made halos around Ginny__. If this wasn't such a dire situation, Hermione would have marvelled the way the halo made Ginny look more beautiful._

Word count: **8,642**

Re-Posting date: **22, May, 2011**

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**STORY DETAILS:**

***0****3, April, 2011, 01:20 AM***

Hits: 840 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 8 :-|

Favourite Story: 4 :-|

Community: 0 :-|

***22****, May, 2011, 10:37 AM***

Hits: 1,302 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 10 :-|

Favourite Story: 4 :-|

Community: 0 :-|

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**REVIEW ANSWERS:**

*******03, April, 2011, 01:20 AM***

Hopefully, I'll have some reviews soon enough.

***22****, May, 2011, 10:37 AM***

Hmm… after waiting for so many days for reviews, I'm inclined to update my journal now.

**golfnjen83**: Thanks... :-)

**HyperLily**: Thanks HyperLily... you always make me feel good... :-)

**Dreamer15147**: Thanks... and believe me, I'm eager too...

**slytherinsal**: Thanks and wait for some more chapters and then you will start to _see_ the real picture...

* * *

_**Chapter — 3 **_

***29, May, 2011, 22:36 or 10:36 PM***

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

*Started writing at **09:40 PM, May, 29, 2011** and stopped at **10:30 PM, May, 29, 2011**. Drafted 1,315 words for the story in the aforementioned time.*

I feel good, writing the chapter again. Nothing much to say… just that I plan to upload this chapter before 9 June.  
Good night.

*******24, June, 2011, 08:06 AM***

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

*****Wrote in short span of time during** 23, July, 2011 **and** 24, July, 2011***

Ah… finally done… but this chapter might be a too short, even for my standards. But, this chapter has been a struggle to get out and honestly, I'm not happy with the end results. I just feel that it could have been more interesting and not filler-like like I feel it is and I was desperate to update… I don't know why I always start writing so late…

And I have broken yet another promise, of delivering a long chapter. Well… I could have elongated the chapter by a few hundred words… but I refrained from doing so… why? Because I felt like that content will suit more in the next chapter and hopefully it will help me set a pace for myself which will not end before I reach 10k mark for that chapter.

And I don't know if I said this before, but this story will be broken into two major POVS, Ginny and Harry. While Ginny POV will be described in around 10 chapters, Harry POV will only last for 4 to 5 chapters, broken into the style of dairy entry, but it is not as if Harry writes dairy or anything.

Word count: **6,750**

Release date: **25, July, 2011**

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**STORY DETAILS:**

*******25, July, 2011, 08:22 AM***

Hits: 1,337 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 9 :-|

Favourite Story: 4 :-|

Community: 0 :-|

*******26, July, 2011, 09:01 PM or 21:01***

Hits: 1,837 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 9 :-|

Favourite Story: 4 :-|

Community: 0 :-|

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**REVIEW ANSWERS:**

***25****, July, 2011, 08:22 AM***

Hopefully, I'll have some reviews soon enough.

*******26, July, 2011, 09:02 PM or 21:02***

**HyperLily**: Thanks… :-)

**golfnjen83**: Thanks and I really enjoyed writing that part too…

**slytherinsal**: Hmm… thanks for the detailed review. As I have told you in the PM, I don't believe Ginny to be as strong as fan-fictions portray her to be… :-)

* * *

_**Chapter — 4**_

***26, July, 2011, 21:06 or 09:06 PM***

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

*****Wrote in short span of time on** 26, July, 2011 **and drafted around** 4,500 words **in** 4 broken hours***

Ah… I am enjoying writing this chapter and this is after such a long time I'm enjoying writing a chapter for a Harry Fanfic. And if this continues — which I believe it will — I will very well write around 10k words for this chapter and as promised and before this Sunday… Isn't it great?

It would have been more interesting for me, if FoxIt Reader wouldn't shutdown my system every time I used a SuperBar emulator or a Alt+Tab customiser… Seriously if this continues, I will have to switch back to Acrobat, since my XP is highly customized…

Enough with my computer rambling… I just want to say that I'm loving this chapter…

And before I forget, from this chapter onwards, each chapter will have a time jump…

And for the readers of this journal, the next chapter might be titled as** "Friendship, Quidditch and Happiness" **if this gives you any idea…

Enjoy… because I really am…

The estimated update date: **28, July, 2011** or **29, July, 2011.**

The estimated word count: **9,000 — 10,000 words in MS Word**.

**P.S.**: Hoping that I would be able to keep my promise this time.

***28, July, 2011, 23:49 or 11:49 PM***

*****Wrote in short span of time on** 28, July, 2011 **and drafted around** 5,000 words **in** 7 broken hours***

Done… finally managed to keep my promise… if I could, I would have updated the story now…

Anyway, I renamed the Chapter from **"Friendship, Quidditch and Happiness"** to **"Flowing With Time"**… Why?  
Because I didn't talk much about either Friendship, or Quidditch or Happiness but that is going to be Chapter 5 title…

This chapter is inspired by **slytherinsal** review, who said that they should start heading towards recovery and it made the rusted wheel in my mind move, of course, people grieve their loved one death but it had come to an end, and this chapter do it… it shows that they have started their trek toward recovery… recovery from the scars the war had left on their skin…

And please tell me if this chapter was a bit on the extreme side… I tried to keep it in limits… but I have a habit of breaking my own rules… :-p and since my new PC came (finally… you can literally say that I was high at that time) I have been on the ecstatic side and adjusting to the new keyboard has been a pain in the head… and having my head filled with overly happy thoughts made the writing a bit hard… I just hope that I'll be able to adjust to the new keyboard, like I had adjusted to my old keyboard (which was just four months old)…

And a note, Ginny's POV might stretch for some more chapters and after the seventh chapter, the thing will get rough and this chapter title has two meaning in it… the first one will be clear to everyone on the first read, the second, and the important meaning, will require you to read the completely series…

Hoping that you will stick till the end… :-)

Bye… and a big thank you for **HyperLily**, **golfnjen83 **and **slytherinsal,** and also to **Dreamer18147** and **AryaAliceLuna**, both of them seems to be away from right now…

**P.S.:** The next update will come after a while now…

Word count: **9,257**

Release date: **29, July, 2011**

*******29, July, 2011, 16:16 or 04:16 PM***

Thanks to slytherinsal, I corrected a formatting error... which I can swear that wasn't there in the start...

_"Of course, Kingsley knowsHarryHarry," said Ron, "H_

_about this," said Ron, shrugging his shoulder, "How do you think we managed to build a makeshift Quidditch field in our miniscule paddock?"_

**TO:**

_"Of course, Kingsley knows about this," said Ron, shrugging his shoulder, "How do you think we managed to build a makeshift Quidditch field in our miniscule paddock?"_

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**STORY DETAILS:**

*******29, July, 2011, 08:22 AM***

Hits: 1,874 :-|

Story Alert Subscriber: 11 :-|

Favourite Story: 5 :-|

Community: 0 :-|

**\-X-/-\-/-\-X-/**

**REVIEW ANSWERS:**

***29****, July, 2011, 08:22 AM***

Hopefully, I'll have some reviews soon enough.

*******29, July, 2011, 16:16 or 04:16 PM***

**slytherinsal**: Yeah... they are recuperating and I sih that line was mine...


	3. Chapter 1

_**The Ticking Life  
Chapter — 1  
Reunion**_

A silent wind blew around, leaking around from the many cracks and holes in the wall of the Great Hall. The sun was shining brightly, like it too was rejoicing the day's event, bathing the Great Hall with magnificent shades of red, orange and yellow. Everything seemed to be dead quiet, as everyone tried to digest what had just happened. They had finally, finally managed to get rid off Voldemort, or a boy had finally managed to did that for them.

But the boy in question was nowhere to be seen, nor were his two best friends. Every pair of eyes was either fixed on a distant point unseen to other or were searching around, trying to find the boy to share their happiness with him.

On the far end of Gryffindor table sat a group of red heads, their heads huddled together. They seemed oblivious to all the silent commotion around them. On the table, lay a body of a redhead, a smile etched on his pale and unmoving face. Silent tears were leaking from all of their eyes, shining like small pearls in the bright sunlight.

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

This couldn't be happening. Now the war was over and Ginny could feel its effect on the world around her. Everywhere, in every corner and niche was a dead body, each of it depicting its own tale of heroism. She could see wet eyes in every corner and the grief around her was so palpable that now grief was pumping in her heart, not blood. She just couldn't take it anymore.

What was the use?

Every sight of the dead, every glance at them was depicting, shouting to her that the world had changed. Now there is no evil, but for what cost. Hundreds of life. Was it worth it? If you ask her; no, it wasn't.

The sight of the dead was so painful for her heart that she hadn't looked at Fred's body. What was the use? Every time she looked at some dead body, the sight of the night horror would come rushing to her. And she couldn't even dare to imagine what effect seeing Fred body would have on her.

So, she just cried, cried on her mother's shoulder. In her Mum embrace, she felt a feeling of warmth and feeling of being protected. Her body felt weak, weak beyond imagination.

A howling wind blew around her and a sequence of noise played in the back of her mind. It took much time for the noise to sink in her mind, but when it did, her body stiffened in response.

BANG, CRASH, SLAM, THUD, AND THUMP.

It sounded as someone was falling from stairs and very painfully. But she didn't have the courage, the guts to turn around and look. She had seen enough violence to last a lifetime and her mind wasn't prepared for seeing more blood, hearing more cries of pain and above all living with that image.

"HARRY!"

Ginny eyes instantly flew open, rubbing harshly against the fabric of her Mum's dress. But she didn't care. That word was all she needed to pump the adrenaline in her blood. And what was more depressing and disheartening was the fact that the crier sounded scared. The time difference between the noises and the crying of Harry's name was less than a second. Did it mean…

She didn't complete the thought; instead she jumped to her feet and turned around. Her feet swayed and her knees buckled. She didn't care. The images from last night came rushing to her, the limp body of Harry, the victorious laugh of Voldemort, the pain…

And she saw for herself. Harry's head banging on the lower step, spraying blood all around him, drenching his clothes and the steps of the stairs. Suddenly there was a collective incantation of "_Wingardium Leviosa!_"

Harry body zoomed up, narrowly missing the wall. His blood swayed in the air like some sort of elegant red line, twirling and twisting in midair before drenching everyone in it.

"ARE YOU MAD?" Hermione cried, the tears in her eyes sparkling her cheeks. She gently levitated Harry down, as Ron pushed everyone aside.

Ginny on the other hand was too stunned to speak; her body felt like it was made of hardwood.

_This can't be happening, this can't be happening__…_

All around her people were in chaos, the world for them seemed to run at lightning fast speed. But for her, time was rewinding, retracing its path. She soon found herself in Hogwarts ground, looking at the limp body of Harry cradled lovingly in Hagrid arms. The pale face, the unmoving hands, the peaceful yet pained expression…

"HARRY!"

She cried, pulling herself out of the past. Tears started to run down her cheek, as her eyes looked madly around trying to figure out where Harry was. Most of the Great Hall was nearly empty except some staggers, who were looking at something on the steps.

Ginny too, glanced at the particular direction and her body froze with a lurch. The stairs were sprinkled with blood; the red liquid was simmering magnificiently in the bright sunlight. The pollen grains and dust in the air that were now captured in the blood was swirling and twirling lazily in it, looking like they were doing some kind of victory dance.

"No," Ginny said, whipping out her wand. Even the thought of seeing Harry blood was so painful to her, and seeing it and in so much quantity, she couldn't even start to fathom the pain it brought. Her breath was hitching and her throat was strained, so strained that breathing was turning out to be a very hard task.

"_Scourgify!_" she cried and cried and cried and cried again and again… She swished and flicked her wand continuously siphoning every bit of blood from the stair. She wanted to remove every bit of evidence that even remotely suggested that something to Harry had happened here. Her knees buckled and swayed, but she continued even after the stairs were cleaned. Because every time she saw the stairs, every time she looked at the walls, she felt the stream of blood drenching her.

Suddenly, a pair of hands held her from behind, stopping her frantic moments. Ginny turned around hastily and in one swift moment, pressed her wand tip to the throat of the man. Her red tresses fell all over her face, obscuring her vision. Her eyes were burning with fury, fury of so much power that it could've made anyone cower like a terrified cat. She was breathing in hard, ragged gasps, and her body was quivering. It was not because of the rage, it was because of the pain.

All she had been doing was to provide her mind a distraction, a very much needed distraction to overcome the pain. But now held between a pair of strong hands, she just couldn't do anything except crying. Her throat was still strained, clenched so tightly that only source of oxygen for her was her mouth. The building sobs inside her finding no way out, started shaking her body. With every passing sob, her body shook from head to toe as her vision blurred from her tears and the flashes from yesterday night.

She slowly lowered her wand and gave into the strong hands of the man. She felt drained; she had no energy left in her. Only thing which was keeping her upright, on her feet was the support of the man.

Time continued to trickle away, and everything continued to follow its course. But Ginny stood there, feeling empty. She wanted to go and see Harry, but at the same time, she was scared, scared because she believed that she couldn't be able to see Harry that broken-up again.

But she needed to see him, needed to make sure that he was okay, needed to know that he won't leave her again.

She pulled her head away from the man's chest and looked up in his eyes. Bill stood there, his eyes and cheeks glistening with tears. Some scratch and burn marks embossed his face and hands, but he didn't seem to care. His red hair was signed at various points and some of them were completely burnt.

"Ginny…" he started looking uncertain, "Are you all right?"

Before she had the time to answer, a man Ginny didn't recognise came running to them, as they were the only person in the Great Hall now and panted out, looking at Ginny "Where can I found some Blood-Replenishing Potion?"

Ginny's heart almost stopped beating as she asked the man, "Who needs the potion?" She finished in a whisper, dreading the answer which was about to come.

"Are you mad?" he snarled and turned to Bill. But before turning away completely, he said, "Harry Potter."

The words were like a trigger to her. She pushed the man aside and ran up the stairs, as tears leaked from her eyes. The way to the hospital wing was unusually long and hurdled. People seemed to block her way, looking like they were preventing her from reaching Harry, her Harry.

Finally she reached the doors to the hospital wing. She crashed open the door, her eyes sweeping around the room, trying to find the huddle of red hairs. There was none. The hospital wing was surely filled with people, but there was no trace of Weasley's in the wing. And if they were not here, it clearly implied that Harry wasn't here too.

She turned, grabbed the cuff of the first person her hands sought and asked, her voice shaky because of the panic she was feeling, "Where's Harry?"

The man sneered, making Ginny's inside boil. She was literally a second away from cursing the hell out of him, when he answered, "Don't we all wonder that? He's not here that's for sure."

The matter-of-factly tone he had used, left Ginny burning in anger. But she knew she didn't have much time. She needed to find Harry, to make sure he was all right. She couldn't lose Harry, not after when she had just lost Fred.

So, she turned again and asked other people. Some were sympathise, some just ignored her but none of them gave her the answer. They all said they didn't know and for once she felt completely hopeless.

She slumped to her knees as her body shook with the amount of sobs. She got a feeling that she was going to lose him, again. Her world started to spin as her vision was blocked by small black circles. It was as if the world was confirming her that what she thought was right, that she would lose Harry. So she tried to fight the darkness, but being that exhausted and having no strong motive at all, pushed her to the loosing side.

She felt something warm draping around her shoulder. Her vision cleared a little, but soon to be spun again. She drew in a noisy breath and her body shuddered. She felt helpless, no not helpless; she felt beyond helpless. There was no feeling in her heart, it felt almost dead.

"Ginny…"

The voice was familiar to her. But she couldn't put a finger on the name of the owner of the voice. When she opened her lips to reply, to ask who the person was, only this came out,

"Where's Harry?"

She hadn't excepted a answer; all her hopes were crushed in a fine powder by all the ignorance and the negative answers. And she was pretty much taken aback when the person answered her query.

"He is in Gryffindor Common Room, in my old dorm," the person replied and Ginny's heart stopped for a fraction of second as the information imprinted in her head. And as soon as her mind grasped the fact completely, her heart started beating erratically.

"You are not kidding, are you?" she asked as she turned around, facing the owner of the voice. Neville stood there, looking weary and battle worn. The look of deep seriousness of his face made it quite clear that he wasn't joking.

So without thinking twice, she pushed him aside as every feeling returned to her heart. Her heart felt lively, full of life as she stormed out of the hospital wing and up the stairs. She didn't care how many people she bumped in the way or how many things she broke because she was heading towards a goal and it would take the combine power of hell and heaven to stop her.

Soon, she was running to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Some people were walking around the portrait, looking like they were guarding it.

But Ginny couldn't care less. She trudged to the portrait and demanded, "Open up."

The four persons who were walking around the portrait stopped and looked at her. Ginny glanced at them for a fleeting second and recognised them as D.A. members. They didn't raise any objection as they continued their patrolling.

Ginny was growing impatient; Fat Lady was behaving as she didn't even exist.

"Let me in," Ginny ordered, stamping her foot.

"No, I won't," Fat Lady replied flatly, and started ignoring her again.

Ginny turned to the D.A. members and ordered, "Let me in."

"Humour me," one of them said. Ginny looked at the owner of the voice and saw Seamus.

"What do you mean by 'humour me'?" Ginny asked as she leaned against the wall.

"What do you think we are doing here?" Seamus asked, as he sat on the floor, his back pressed on the cold wall.

"Guarding…" Ginny supplied, not sure of herself.

"_Guarding?_" Seamus asked, disbelief etched all over his face, "Honestly. Don't you think we all have some other important things to do? I just came here to have a bit of sleep, when this" — he pointed at the Fat Lady portrait, (who cried, "Now I'm this.") — "refused point blankly. I have been trying to cajole my way inside, but it has been in no way successful. So I'm waiting for someone who will let me enter. When you came, I thought, finally. But no you don't know the bloody password yourself." He finished in an accusing tone.

"How am I supposed to know?" Ginny demanded, feeling a little indignant, "I'm as clueless as you. But there's a single difference; I have raked whole of Hogwarts but most of them are not even aware of what had happened to Harry."

"No use crying over spilled beans," Ernie replied who was lurking in a corner, glancing frequently at the stairs and Fat Lady portrait, "we just have to wait and watch. No one has come out from there after that man."

"Which man?" Ginny asked, as her mind started to recall everything that had happened in the past hours.

"The man who was going on around, asking about Blood-Replenishing Potion," Seamus replied, "I wonder who he was."

"Must be one of the Order members," Ernie replied, tapping his foot on the floor.

"I never saw him," Ginny mused and then realisation dawned on her, "WHY DID HE NEEDED BLOOD-REPLNISHINH POTION?" — her voice cracked — "Is h — he all right?" The past hours came rushing in her memories,. Filling her mind with all the horrid details, she had tried to forget.

"Don't know," Seamus replied, though his voice carried a concern tone, "But he was going on around saying that Harry needs Blood-Replenishing Potion. _But it doesn't mean that Harry needs it._" He added as Ginny started sobbing again.

Ginny turned to the Fat Lady and screeched, "Open the bloody way."

Fat Lady ignored her, behaving as everything was fine, even when others had clamped their hands on their ears, probably in an attempt to block out the noise. Suddenly, the portrait flew open. Ginny jumped with excitement, anticipation, fear and a little happiness, as she trekked towards the portrait hole. But when she saw her Mum standing there, looking angry, she stopped.

"What's with all the commotion?" her Mum demanded, giving a glare which could have easily frozen blood.

"I want to see Harry," Ginny demanded and before her Mum had a chance to reply, she pushed her sideways, nearly pushing her face first on the floor and stormed off inside.

As soon as she walked in the common room, she froze in her tracks. She didn't know what she had excepted, but it wasn't anything like this. Most of the common room wall was blown off and there were several craters of varying sizes on the still standing walls. People were standing around the blown walls, probably guarding the common room from intrusion.

And what disturbed Ginny the most was the injured people. Hospital wings was full up to its capacity but the people resting there weren't very gravely injured. But here the scene was different.

Every corner was filled with injured people, wrapped in bandages and resting on magical stretchers. Some of the Order members were guarding the stairways, blocking anyone from entering the stairways. Many un-graduated and graduated Hogwarts students were tending the injured, while the older members of the community guided them, occasionally tending to the gravely injured. Empty potion flasks and phials were strewn around.

People were groaning and moaning in pain. Blood was splashed everywhere, from the walls to the floor and on the robes of the helpers. Some corners were huddled with crying people, most probably crying over a dead.

So this was why the hospital wings were just accommodating people who were not very gravely injured. Because they were being recommended here for private healing.

So this was the aftereffect of the war. Her parents had said that the aftereffects of the war were very grave, but at that time she hadn't understood. For her if the war was over, everything was all right.

But now standing here in between blood, destruction, broken families she knew what her parents had meant. In one way, it was bad, worse than the period of war. The only thing that was giving her some hope, some energy was the fact that this would not be happening again, ever.

Lost in her thoughts, Ginny forgot about everything. She had thought that she had seen enough blood and pain to last her whole life, but now she knew how wrong she was. It was just, just… horrible…

A warm hand squeezed Ginny shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts. Ginny spun around and saw Luna standing there, looking concerned, weary and yet at the same time attentive.

"Luna," Ginny said, as she came out of her surprise. She hugged her friend and added, "What are you doing here?"

"Helping," Luna answered. A man groaned and Luna turned her head in the direction, from where the noise came. She looked ready to march off, but Ginny caught her by wrist and asked, "Where's Harry? Is he fine?"

Luna stopped, turned around and gave her a quick look.

"He's in one of the boy's dorm."

Saying that Luna hurried off to the man, looking alert. Ginny sighed and turned her head to look at the stairways leading to the boy's dorm. On the entrance stood Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle, their arms crossed over their chest and a weird expression on their face.

Ginny took a step forward, but had to stop because her arm was taken in a vice grip by someone. Ginny spun around, as anger flared in her chest, which was being fueled by her impatience. She had already been unaware about Harry condition for hour or was it hours and she would not let it continue, not if she could start.

But as soon as she faced the person, she blanched for a second. Her resolution crumbled a little, as her Mum face came into her view. She looked angry, no not angry, sad. There was such a weird expression on her face; it was hard to tell what she was feeling. But Ginny had a shrewd idea. Because she had been feeling that kind of jumbled emotions too. But she just couldn't understand why her Mum was feeling this angry.

"Leave my hand, Mum," said Ginny, as she tried to wrench her hand away from her Mum's grasp. It was futile; her Mum's hold was very strong and to top it off, she was feeling exhausted. She had only been running around because of her resolution to see Harry, otherwise she would have been dropped dead on her feet by now.

"Is this the way to talk to your Mum?" her Mum demanded as her gripped tightened on her hand. What was the matter with her Mum? She was behaving unusually angry.

"Okay," Ginny said, "Mum, please leave my hand." She had never in reality said something like that, and neither her Mum had asked her to behave so disturbingly polite.

Her Mum glared at her, her hold on her hand still not loosening. Ginny's patience was dancing at the line of angry outburst.

Time continued to trickle away, whirling in nothingness. And Ginny's patience continued to drain away, making the anger bubble with more ferocity.

"I SAID LEAVE MY HAND, MUM," Ginny shouted and pulled her hand away, nearly pushing her Mum on the floor. Her body was now shaking with anger.

After a brief moment of surprise, her Mum started crying. She had never seen her Mum cry. Maybe four or five times, not counting this year, but it was never like this. Her whole body was shaking with sobs and her breath was hitching. She looked so weak, fragile and unsecured; no one could have said that she was the same woman who killed Bellatrix, You-Know-Who's best lieutenant. Her feet swayed and her knees crashed on the floor with a _thump_.

Ginny rushed to her Mum and took a fleeting glance around her. No one seemed to care about her Mum's reaction. Maybe it was because every single soul present inside was either injured or healing the injured or guarding something. And they must have seen many reactions like this today, so they didn't bother.

But Ginny had seen this type of reaction from the first time and it was more disturbing because the reaction came from her own Mum. Her Mum had always been composed, though a bit short tempered. But she had never been this weak or either she had never shown that side of her.

"Mum," Ginny said, as she wrapped her arms around her Mum's shoulder, "are you all right?"

Her Mum didn't answer; she didn't even give a sign that acknowledged the fact that she knew about her presence. She just continued to look forward, her eyes staring blankly at some point unknown to everybody as tears rolled out of her eyes.

And then suddenly, she said, without turning her face "You will leave me… just — just like F—Fred. You will leave me too, just like F—Fred, I know. Everybody is leaving me, everybody is leaving me all alone here."

"Mum," Ginny said, as tears bubbled out of her eyes, "No one is going to leave you. We all will be by your side. Always."

"You are lying," her Mum replied, and for the first time looked at Ginny. Her hair was a jumbled mess, her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes were blood shot red. They seemed to be brimming in the sunlight and it was because of the constant flow of the tears.

"Mum, I'm not lying," said Ginny, as she rubbed her Mum's shoulder.

"You are not," said her Mum. Her eyes suddenly lit up, and a small smile stretched on her face.

"So, where's Fred?" she asked Ginny, as her eyes looked around, looking as she was hoping that he would jump out from a corner.

Ginny didn't reply; she had no reply. Words betrayed her. The innocence of her Mum's words left her dumb. She was in such a shock that she even believed someone, someone who had no control over anything.

"Where's Fred?" her Mum demanded again, more forcefully than before. Ginny still kept quiet, she still had no answer. Fred was all around them, just he wasn't with them; he just didn't have a form. He was inside their heart, trying to cheer them up.

But when Ginny opened her mouth to say these words to her Mum, the words escaped her. Because somewhere in her mind, she was keeping the same hope as of her Mum, that Fred would come. Because all of this living in heart talk was bullshit, absolutely bullshit. And she knew it. It was just to console, not for believing. If dead people were always with us, then why the mourning? Because people too knew, one who dies leaves the world for good. They won't come back, not in their usual form anyway.

So she just kept quiet, letting the tears fall from her eyes.

"Where's Fred?" her Mum demanded again, and now her smile was vanishing. Her voice cracked as she said, "You said to me that you lot won't leave me, then where is Fred, my Fred?"

Her Mum started shaking her, looking quite deranged. Ginny gulped and said, "Because Mum he has already left us."

"No," her Mum barked, looking at her like she was some kind of lunatic.

A girl rushed to their side and produced a small phial from under her robes. She forcefully downed the contents of the phial down her Mum's throat and sighed in relief. Her Mum's expression instantly softened and her breathing which was extremely ragged before, became normal.

"What did you give to my Mum?" asked Ginny, as she saw here Mum's panicked expressions turn to the sad one's.

"Calming Draught," the girl replied, "it's her fourth dose."

Ginny turned to look at the girl, disbelief etched all over her face.

"_Fourth Dose?_' Ginny asked, "Isn't one dose supposed to work for four to five hours."

"Yes they are supposed to," the girl replied, "but we are running short on every supply. So, from every potion flask, we are pouring out ten to twelve phials. Many people need Calming Draught and St. Mungos hasn't replied to our queries yet. I don't know what they are thinking. We had already lost two people because of the shortage of potion."

"And who are you?" asked Ginny. She was amazed hearing the casualness of her voice when she talked about all of that.

"I am taking it as you are asking me who am I to pass on such judgment," she said and Ginny nodded.

"I was a apprentice at St. Mungos for quite a few weeks before I have to hide," she replied, "I'm a Muggle-born and you know it was a crime in the old regime to be a Muggle-born."

Ginny nodded as her expressions softened a little. The girl looked around eighteen and there was an air around her which told Ginny that the girl knew about what she was doing.

"Now would you move aside?" she asked her, "I have some other patients to take care of."

Ginny nodded and moved aside. The girl had barely taken a step, when a question snaked its way in her mind.

"Where's Harry?" she asked the girl. She stopped, turned around and said, in an amused tone,

"And why should I tell you?"

"I know Harry," replied Ginny hotly, feeling a little prideful of the fact.

"Don't we all?" she replied smugly as she brushed a tress of her black hair away from her face.

"I mean, he knows me too," Ginny said forcefully.

"Likely story," the girl replied, her eyes holding a victorious glint.

"Do you know who am I?" demanded Ginny, her blood boiling.

"Not Merlin, I suppose" the girl said, "Am I right?" She finished with a small laugh, which made Ginny blood burn in anger. The girl was getting over her head and Ginny didn't like the fact, at all.

"Oh no, I'm not Merlin, you see," Ginny said, going tit for tat, "I don't want to fake myself like some people in front of me are obviously doing with fake styles." — the girl expression hardened — "I'm Ginny Weasley. Weasley. Got your brain under your skull now or is it still gone for grazing grass."

"So, what if you are?" she snarled, "Being a Weasley didn't change much?"

"Oh it does actually," Ginny replied, knowing the fact that she was winding the girl, big time, "You know many people only hope to see Harry," — a alarm went off in her head, as she remembered about Harry — "whereas Harry lives with us every summer. He is practically a family member." Ginny didn't even feel a bit guilty dragging Harry's name in the conversation. It just felt right.

The girl huffed and stormed off. The conversation was futile but Ginny felt an odd feeling of cheerfulness, seeing the girl's disgruntled expressions. She was feeling kind of satisfied, very satisfied.

But as soon as she remembered about Harry, she turned around. Her Mum seemed to be doing fine, although she looked extremely sad. It couldn't be helped; the pain was just too much to be suppressed by Calming Draughts.

She hurried off to the stairs, literally slamming into Hestia.

"Easy there," said Hestia, holding Ginny at arm length.

"Ginny," Hestia looked positively surprised, "what are you doing here?"

"Why?" asked Ginny, trying to wriggle out of her hold, "Was I supposed to be somewhere else?"

"No, no," Hestia replied, "it's just that all your family came here with Harry, only you and Bill were the two persons missing. We just thought that you were helping the others in the hospital wing. Neville and some others went there to assist you and Bill. But it looks as you weren't in the hospital wing."

"I was," Ginny replied, "I was looking for Harry. Then Neville came and told me that Harry was in the Gryffindor boy dorm room. So, I came here as soon as I could."

"Harry Potter is up in the dorms," Dedalus said, "Pomfrey is tending him. Lost quite some blood, but he is fine."

Ginny sighed in relief and tried to push Hestia away. Hestia resisted; Ginny snarled.

"Let me go to Harry. I want to make sure myself that he is all right."

Hestia gave her a suspicious look. Ginny glared at her.

"Fine. He is in the seventh year boy's dorm. Don't enter any other dorm; they are accommodating other seriously injured people. Okay?"

"Okay," Ginny replied as she trudged up the stairs, not even looking at the other rooms.

She was soon standing in front of the seventh year dorm rooms. They all looked the same to her and Hestia hadn't told her which of the room was in which Harry was being treated.

Ginny took a step forward, tentatively, her hands shaking with anticipation of what she was going to find. She slowly pushed the first door, opening it just a crack. She glanced inside, hoping to see the familiar mane of red hairs.

But she was met with a scene, she honestly and sincerely hope to forget. On the bed lay a man, his limbs twisted in unusual angles. His whole body was wrapped in bandages, which were stained red. Flasks of blood red potion lined the table and a woman was pouring the content down in the man mouth. Ginny, even when her mind was screaming to turn around, looked at the man with more concentration. The man appeared unconscious and pale, very pale. The potion flasks looked like they were soon depleting, only a couple of them were left and a couple of dozens were empty. No one except the two was in the room.

Suddenly the woman face turned to the door, and she positively beamed, as she saw Ginny. She jumped off from her chair and hurried to the door.

"Have you brought more Blood-Replenishing Potions?" she asked, continuously glancing back at the man. There was no improvement in her condition, none that Ginny could tell anyway.

"No,' Ginny answered warily, "I was looking for my — err… friend."

"Oh," the woman face fell, "Is he all right?"

"What?" Ginny asked, not catching the question. But as the words sunk in her brain, she said, "Yes. He is no immediate danger." Ginny hoped so, she dearly hoped so.

"Good," the woman said, "I hope I could say that for my husband too. He needs immediate hospitalisation, but St. Mungos hasn't replied yet. They are not even sending potions, and his condition is getting worse by the passing second."

"I will see what I can do," Ginny assured the woman.

"Do you know someone who can help me?" the woman asked, suddenly looking hopeful again.

"No," Ginny said, and the woman face fell.

"But I know someone who has that much power to tell people to help you immediately," said Ginny.

"It's not that they are not helping," the woman said, "But the number of injured peoples are sixty to seventy times more than the people who are helping. But they still check on him every fifteen or twenty minutes. That's all I can ask from them. It's all fault of St Mungos."

The woman glanced at her watch and said, "I have to give him Blood-Replenishing Potion."

"Didn't you give him that just five minutes ago?" asked Ginny.

"He is bleeding like hell," the woman replied, "Healers have charmed the bandages to clean themselves until they found the antidote or some kind of counter curse to stop the bleeding."

Hearing this, Ginny was reminded of her Fourth year Christmas. How could she forget it! Her Dad had nearly died and his problem was something like this. But she didn't want to give the woman false hope; what if St Mungos didn't reply at all.

"I hope he gets fine soon," Ginny said and the woman smiled. She hurried off to her husband side.

Ginny closed the door again, giving the couple their privacy. The world had suddenly turned disturbingly calm. It felt like every living being had left earth. The horrors of the war were following her like they were her very own shadows. Every turn she took only shoved her in the way of more disturbing images, more victims of torture. Every time she thought she had seen the extreme, she would find herself face to face with more gruesome sceneries.

Ginny had enough; her mind was scarred enough but the urge to see Harry, confirm from her very own eyes that he was all right was just overwhelming. For him, she would go through all of it.

So she walked toward the second room and pushed it open. Her face was stoic, but her eyes, they were a pool of jumbling emotions. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a blur of red, heading into the room which was situated at the far corner.

As soon as Ginny saw this, she rushed to the door, not caring how much noise she was creating on the way. Finally what felt like running for hours, she stood in front of the door which led to the room where most probably Harry was being tended. Somehow now her body felt like it was leaded. Her hand refused to move and her throat point blankly refused to make any sound. Her eyes were fixed on the door as her mind anticipated what she would come in front of when she would open the door. She just couldn't set a point, because she was sure if she would, it would surely be broken.

But she just couldn't help but wonder, how was Harry? She thought the question again and again, but tried to refrain herself from thinking the answer.

Time continued to trickle away as she stood there, completely still. She just couldn't muster the energy to take a step forward and push the door open. Because the easy task suddenly to her, felt very difficult.

And then the door suddenly opened. Ginny heart missed a beat and her breath hitched, making her choke on her breath.

After the initial surprise, she looked at the person who was standing at the door. The person was Ron. He was looking worse, worst than he had ever looked. Her exposed skin was filled with small scratches, cuts and burns. His eyes were blood shot and puffy and his hairs were signed at various places. His arms seemed to be dangling from his shoulders and his shoulders, they were slumped down. He looked defeated, resigned like he had lost every hope in world…

Ginny stopped her thinking. It was walking on dangerous field but the effect had taken place. Her mind was instantly filled with worries and concern. Ron still looked unresponsive; not even acknowledging her presence.

"Ron," said Ginny, taking the initiative, "Where's Harry?" — the question came out automatically, Ron didn't seem to care — "I mean how is Harry? Is he fine?"

But Ron still didn't answer. He was lost in his own world. Ginny growing impatient, started shaking Ron, vigorously. He didn't seem to care. And suddenly a tear escaped his eye, trailing down his face, slowly.

Ginny heart stopped for a second, only to start beating hastily again. Ginny pushed Ron sideways and entered the room. It was mostly empty. Two beds were occupied; one was by Harry and second was by George. Hermione was sitting beside Harry, stroking his hair. Charlie and Percy sat beside George, who looked unconscious.

Ginny hurried off to George. Even though she had come to see Harry, she just couldn't ignore George. She had lost one of the twin and even thinking of losing the other one, gripped her heart in a vice grip. So she ignored Harry for the time being and sat beside George. Now from such close proximity, he appeared asleep. His face expression was serene, like he didn't give a damn about what had happened. And after losing Fred, she hadn't even thought in her wildest imagination that George would look this peaceful.

"We have given him Calming Draught and Dreamless Sleep Potion," answered Charlie, sounding as he knew what was going through Ginny's mind.

"He seems to take it real hard," added Percy. Ginny anger flared a little on hearing Percy voice. She hadn't forgave Percy, not completely anyway. She hadn't forgotten the moment, when Percy absence had made her Mum cry; she hadn't forgotten the harsh words he had said to her Dad.

"Don't we all?" asked Ginny, harshly, "And Fred was his twin, almost like a second soul to him. So he is taking it seriously."

Percy face fell and he started staring at the bed sheet. An odd emotion bubbled in her chest for a second; it surprisingly felt like smugness.

"When will he awake?" Ginny asked Charlie.

"Don't know," he said, "Maybe after three or four hours. It took one and half flagon of Dreamless Potion to get him to sleep."

Silencing surrounded them; silence thick as ice.

Suddenly Charlie said, "How are you taking it?"

Ginny knew what he meant, but she didn't want to answer. Because she didn't herself knew how she was taking it. Fred death had left a mark in her heart, which would never heal, and she was feeling extremely sad and like happiness would never come in her life, in the world. But how she was taking it, she couldn't say for sure.

So, she chose to kept quiet, downing herself in her misery. Time continued to trickle away, but nothing of significant happened. George still looked peacefully asleep, when in reality he would've been broken to his last bone.

A groan came from Ginny's behind. Ginny spun around as she heard Hermione saying, "Harry."

She had completely forgotten about Harry, but now as she looked at his sleeping form, she remembered everything. Why she had roamed every corner of the castle, why she had came to the boy dorms and why she was feeling so worried.

She silently stood up from the bed and walked towards Harry bed. As soon as she came within arm reach of Harry, she stopped. An odd feeling crossed her heart as she saw Harry's head in Hermione's lap. She was stroking his hair and he appeared asleep. The side of his head and his hands were bandaged. Maybe his legs were bandaged too. She had no way of knowing because his legs were hidden under the blanket. She could easily pull off the cover and look for herself, but she just couldn't muster that kind of energy to pull the sheets off. In reality she was scared, scared of what she would find.

So she just stood there, letting the time to trickle away. She just wanted to rush to his side and to hold him tight, never to release him again. But something was stopping her. It could very well be jealousy or it could just be the fear of loosing him. So she just stood there. Some part of her hope that Hermione would see her and would beckon her to take her position. But Hermione seemed to concentrate on the task at hand which according to Ginny was her.

But she still couldn't let herself to go and pull Hermione away. Because Hermione looked genuinely concern over Harry and secondly who was she of Harry? Except the sister of his best mate and ex-girlfriend she was no one to him. She didn't have any right on him, whereas Hermione had every right on him. She was like a sister to him and a very caring sister at that.

The phrase ex-girlfriend was like a thorn in her side, but Ginny couldn't do anything about it. What if Harry had already moved on, found himself a better partner? As much as the thought pained her, it was most probably possible, and Ginny knew and hated the fact. She couldn't even confirm the fact with Hermione. Because she knew if she even dared to bring the subject up now or anytime soon, she won't know what hit her. And in all honesty, Ginny didn't want to ask that question in the first place. She had many things on her mind and mostly all of them were graver than being Harry's girlfriend or not. But still the curiosity wouldn't leave her.

And then suddenly Hermione's head shot up. Ginny at this point realised that she was staring at Hermione with such intensity that it must had made the hairs on her back of the neck stand. She looked at Ginny warily for a few seconds, after which she offered her a sad smile. Ginny returned her smile and took some tentative step towards Harry. She didn't know why she was doing so, but she still did it. For her it was asking for Hermione's permission to be near Harry because in this room only she was the one who had every right on Harry. Other than Hermione, every one of them had lesser right on Harry than her.

So when Hermione didn't show any sign of protest when she came near Harry, Ginny started walking casually toward Harry's bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and rested her hands on his legs. As she pressed her hand a little, she could feel the scratchy surface of the bandages scraping her hand from under the blanket.

She glanced up at his face. There were several small marks on his face but mostly it was unscathed. Maybe Madam Pomfrey had tended to the other cuts and spell burns. But the thing that taunted her most was the fact that Harry's head was still in Hermione laps. She knew Hermione was the last person she should be worried who would try to steal Harry from her. But she couldn't help but think that and the fact that Harry wasn't her anymore fuelled the fact.

But she didn't have any choice or say in this matter. Because if she had, she would be in the position where Hermione was now. So she just silently, glancing warily at Harry's head from time to time, inwardly hoping that he would get up and pull his head away from her laps. But it didn't happen. He just lay there, complete still, except the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

Time continued to trickle away but there was no change in the scenario. The scene before Ginny's eyes was the same as it was when she had entered. Harry's head was in Hermione's laps and she was stroking his hair, looking at him with big sad eyes. The scene was nostalgic; the care and concern Hermione was emanating for Harry, was so palpable that they both could've been easily tagged as soul mates.

And as much as Ginny liked the brother-sister relationship between Harry and Hermione, she just couldn't help but to be jealous. Because after Harry and she had started going out, she had thought that she would be the one to console Harry, to take care of Harry in need. But during their short relationship, Harry was always happy. Now looking now at those events, Ginny couldn't help but wonder if the happiness was because of her. But she had no chance of knowing.

More time passed, and as much as Ginny tried to tell herself that it's just a brother-sister relationship, she just couldn't. Because to be honest Ginny had always saw her as competition from the moment she had known Hermione. Given she was her best friend, who understood her, but it didn't reduce the fact that she was jealous of her. The amount of time she spent with Harry, the meals they shared, the jokes they cracked at each other etc, all of this sometime made her cry in the start. And oh… her third year. It was plain torture for her to be near Hermione after those articles were published in the _Witch Weekly_. How much she had loathed Hermione during those weeks. Finally maybe Hermione had suspected it because she had explained everything to her. She hadn't completely believed her, but she trusted Hermione enough even then to take her words for it.

And now the feeling she had so profusely felt during her third year was back, worse than before if possible. The room seemed to be pressing around her, making her uncomfortable in the present company. Now she wanted nothing better than to go away from here for some time, just to cool her head. But the thought of leaving Harry and Hermione alone, didn't suited her. She knew that there was nothing between them, yet the sense of competition didn't leave her. Ginny glanced around her and sighed in relief when she saw Charlie and Percy. An odd sense of relief washed her over when she knew that she wasn't going to leave Harry and Hermione alone. It was odd, but satisfying and reassuring.

So, she stood up and flashed a sad smile to Charlie. He smiled sadly and turned back to face George. Hermione didn't even look once.

Ginny quietly walked out of the dorm room and from the corner of her eyes, she saw Ron lying on a four-poster. She didn't remember seeing him coming inside. Maybe she was just too busy with other works.

Ginny silently walked down the stairs but suddenly she stopped. The man, who was going on around asking people for Blood-Replenishing Potion saying that he needed them for Harry was walking to a room, three potion flasks cradled in his hands. He looked oddly satisfied and it fuelled Ginny's anger.

"How dare that man use Harry name for nicking potions?" Ginny murmured angrily to herself and strode towards the man. He was about to enter the room, when Ginny clamped her hands on his shoulder and pulled him aside. The man turned around and said impatiently,

"What do you want?"

Ginny's hand twitched, after noticing the harshness in his voice. He was going to pay, big time.

"I remember that," Ginny began smoothly, "you needed those potions for Harry, Harry Potter. And his room is two stairways up. So, what are you doing here?" She added sharply, glaring at the man.

The man visibly shuddered, as his eyes started to sweep around the room, most probably looking for an escape. But Ginny would be damned if he let him get past her.

"Answer me," Ginny demanded, flashing the tip of her wand.

"You want to know," the man spat, "I needed Blood-Replenishing Potion for my son. He is just fifteen but he wanted to fight, fight for him. And now he is gravely injured, and had lost quite some blood. He is in desperate need of blood, but here they seemed to be next than none. If you ask someone, saying that you need it for your son, no one gives a damn about it. Say that you need for Harry Potter some would believe you and share their stock. That's how I got these three flasks and I will be damned if you managed to take them away from me."

"I'm not going to," Ginny snarled, "But do you know how much it pained some people. Be grateful about the fact that you haven't met Ron, otherwise you would have been in a greater need of Blood-Replenishing Potion than your son."

"Its bloody hypocrisy," the man snarled back at her, "First you fight for him and then you get threatened by his friends."

"You bloody fought for yourself," Ginny shouted at the man, "your son fought for a safe future and Harry fought for saving other's bloody arse. He in no way was the reason of the fight, but he was the one who ended it."

"If he had just given himself…"

The man never completed his sentence. Even before Ginny could've pulled her wand out, the man was thrown backwards in the air, his back smashing against the wall with a loud _thump_.

Ginny looked at the new arrival and saw Ron standing there, red with fury. He was looking quite intimidating and scary. He gathered the potion flask in his hand, gave them to her and said, "Go and give them to the boy." His voice was commanding and it made Ginny follow his order without second guessing.

She quickly strode toward the door, opened it and gave the potion flask to one of the two women sitting inside. She quickly came outside and closed the door behind her.

"WHO THE HELL YOU SUPPOSE YOU ARE?" the man voice came. He sounded resolute, but Ginny could detect the trace of fear in his voice.

Ron didn't answer, but soon a _thud_ followed. It sounded suspiciously like someone had been shoved in the wall and painfully. Realisation dawned on her and Ginny ran to the corner, from where the voice came. Ron stood there looming over the man, who was bleeding from various cuts all around his body.

"RON!" yelled Ginny, when Ron was about to plant one more punch on the man's head, "STOP RIGHT THERE."

Ron turned around looking startled. His eyes met with Ginny eyes for a brief second and he yelled back, "I told you to go away."

"No you didn't," Ginny said, as she pulled her wand out, "Now leave him."

"Do you remember what he said about Harry?" demanded Ron.

"I have ears too Ron," said Ginny, as she tried to wrench him away from the man, "but I have brain too. Do you know how Harry will take it, if you turn this man into a walking dead."

"I — I don't care about what he thinks," said Ron, though the shaking of his voice hinted the opposite, "He doesn't get a say in it. And people like him are better dead."

"No Ron," said Ginny, as she tried with her full might to pull him away from the man, but Ron was just too powerful for her. So, Ginny pulled her wand out, pointed it at him and threatened, "Move away or I will have to stun you."

"Will you…"

"Yes I will," interjected Ginny, "because we have enough people to treat and cure and enough trouble to last a life. I personally didn't fancy increasing the already long list."

Ron grunted, but nevertheless left. Ginny shot the man a dirty look, siphoned some of the blood away and mended some of the cuts and left but not before shooting the man a dirty look.


	4. Chapter 2

_**The Ticking Life  
Chapter — 2  
After-Effects**_

It was eerily silent around her, as Ginny trudged down the stairs. She was doing her best to contain her fury. But still her mind was rolling around, unable to contain her anger.

And the most disturbing fact was, she didn't know what the source of her anger was. She had a shrewd idea, but somewhere deep inside she knew it wasn't the actual reason. Of course, the blathering idiot had infuriated her, but in truth he had only acted as wind to an already simmering fire.

After much of pondering, she knew the answer she had been seeking. And as much as she tried to deny it, she came to the conclusion that all of this was because of Hermione. She was the only one who was keeping Harry away from her; she was the only goddamned one keeping _her_ Harry from her.

"Ginny!" A voice broke through her solitude. Ginny grumbled something incoherent, and turned around to find…

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed in surprise. To say that she was shocked on finding Hermione here was an understatement.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ginny with a hint of jealousy, as the memories of Harry and Hermione started assaulting her brain. She had to refrain herself from swearing Hermione, such was the jealousy she was feeling.

"Ah…" sighed Hermione in defeat, "Madam Pomfrey… She is hovering all over Harry, kicked all of us out."

Ginny suddenly found herself having a newfound admiration for the matron, which she just couldn't describe. It was weird.

"Oh…" exclaimed Ginny in sympathy, even though her inside was shouting in delight, "_Take that, bitch._"

Ginny instantly felt bad but that feeling of guilt was short lived. She turned back to the stairs leading to the seventh year dorm rooms and had barely taken a step, when Hermione asked, "Where are you going, Ginny?"

"Where…" repeated Ginny in exasperation, "To meet Harry, isn't it obvious?" She glared at Hermione, with a frown on her face.

"Don't be so rude, Ginny," retaliated Hermione, "And they have sealed the Seventh Year dorm for a while, until they get assistance from St. Mungos…"

"What…" started Ginny, but Hermione continued on, like she hadn't heard her speak.

"… but…"

"Hermione cool-off for a second…" ordered Ginny, but Hermione didn't seem to be taking any heed of what Ginny was saying.

"… they have…"

"HERMIONE!" shouted Ginny, as anger seethed through her nerves, "Hold on for a second."

"What!" shot back Hermione in exasperation.

"Why have they shut off the seventh year dorm?" asked Ginny, as her hands curled around the business end of her wand, ready to hex the truth out of Hermione, "And why the hell are they relying on those stupid moronic ministry feet licker idiots?"

"I was telling you about that…" chastised Hermione, "If you would just listen."

"Okay… okay… my mistake," said Ginny, with a half-forced smile, "Now tell me what's going on?"

"Not here," said Hermione, glancing furtively around her. Ginny followed her gaze and saw that all the people around her were looking at someone, someone who was standing or sitting somewhere near her. She looked at Hermione quizzically and saw that she was blushing… hard.

Understanding dawned on her face; Hermione was a famous witch now, so of course she would be stared at, just like… Harry.

This thought fuelled a new spark of anger. She grasped Hermione's wrist in a tight grip and wrenched her away towards the Fat Lady, dragging Hermione alongside her.

"What…"

She didn't give any heeds to Hermione's complains, as she continued to pull Hermione, shoving away others who were blocking her way.

"Easy there," commented Fat Lady, but one scathing look from Ginny was all needed to turn the animated portrait still.

"Leave my hand, Ginny," said Hermione, wrenching her hand away. Dark red finger marks were smouldering on her skin.

Rubbing them, Hermione snarled, "Are you mad? Why did you do that?"

"Why do you care if I am," spat Ginny and said, "Just tell me what is happening in the dorms."

"First answer me," demanded Hermione roughly.

Ginny didn't answer; she just stared at Hermione. Various emotions played across her eyes; anger, hurt, fear… there was just no end to it.

"Answer me Ginny," said Hermione. Ginny contemplated her choices and came to the conclusion that giving Hermione a straight simple reply would be the best and the fastest way. She could curse the hell out of Hermione after she knew everything she needed to know.

"Yes I'm mad," Ginny answered in an affirmative, completely ignoring the second question, "Now bloody tell me what is happening on the seventh floor."

Hermione sighed in defeat and seemed to think of Ginny as a lost cause. Ginny tapped her feet in impatience as she waited for Hermione to explain. Her mental stability was dancing on the verge of madness.

"I honestly don't know," Hermione said, leaning against a wall, "Everything is in chaos. When I left Harry he was moaning and groaning, but Madam Pomfrey assured me that she would let me in again after she had performed a mandatory check-up. They are still waiting for correspondence from St. Mungos."

"You just don't know how to manage," said Ginny, even before her mind could completely process the information.

"What!" said Hermione without missing a beat, indignation and surprise written all over her face.

"You heard me," said Ginny, "You were never fit for Harry."

"What are you saying Ginny?" said Hermione looking at Ginny as if she had seen Ginny for the first time.

Ginny was now at that point that she didn't know what she was speaking. Just looking at Hermione, talking as if Harry belonged to her had flipped some kind of switch inside of her, a switch which couldn't be turned off now.

"You were never fit for him," Ginny said, "Merlin knows how he managed to drag your arse around for a year without getting caught."

"Ginny…" began Hermione in an unbelieving tone.

"Don't you '_Ginny_' me," Ginny said and began as if there had been no distraction, "And when he needed some help, you just left him all alone in the clutches of others."

Hermione didn't reply; she just stared at Ginny with unbelieving eyes.

"Why?" Ginny said, "Why are you trying to take my Harry from me?"

"Your Harry?" said Hermione, looking confused, "You are not making any sense."

With a sharp _whip_, Ginny pulled out her wand and levelled it against Hermione's chest.

"I will not let you take him away from me," Ginny shrieked, her eyes looking in the future, a future she had built in her mind.

"I will not let you do that…"

"Ginny," began Hermione, raising her hands up in the air in a surrender position, "calm down. We can talk this over calmly. It's all a big misunderstanding, nothing more."

"Don't lie to me," spat out Ginny and red sparks flew out from the tip of her wand.

"I'm not," said Hermione, "I swear. Just listen me out and then if you want, you can do anything with me. Okay!"

"You are not lying, are you?" said Ginny, her eyes boring deep down in Hermione's eyes.

Ginny mind was now empty; nothing was there, absolutely nothing. Her heart felt lifeless, her mind empty; the only thing which was constantly telling her that she was alive was the forceful inhale of breath.

And with every _thump_ of her heart against her chest, she wondered if the life after death was peaceful because she couldn't take it any more. Every second felt like an agonising century, every breath she took felt like someone was hammering nails in her lungs.

She always thought that obliviousness was the best remedy to any pain, but feeling obliviousness to this extent was causing her far greater pain than she thought was even possible, for she felt like everything in the world has gone away from her. Fred… her Mum… her Dad… her siblings… her friends and now, Harry.

Images of a broken-up Harry flashed in her mind, and her body convulsed with the spasm of pain lurching through her body. Her vision blurred but it didn't pull a reaction out of Ginny because she had long ago abandoned her senses.

Now she was locked in her very own small world, where everything was supposed to be good, but in reality, was worse.

A warm cocoon enveloped her body and slowly but surely she could feel warmth spreading in her body, trying to pull her out of her brooding.

She fought hard, trying to lock herself in her own hell because her hell was better than the hell the real world had become for her. Here, she didn't have to face the fresh assaults of the aftermath of the battle at every new turn. Here she only had to bear with her own problems, which always were solved without any big complications.

So she concentrated her mind, trying to expel the foreign warmth.

She didn't know what she did what she was finally able to achieve it. She could feel the stinging coldness again, which was slowly and surely claiming her body.

As she let herself get lost in the fathomless world of obliviousness, a sharp cry somehow penetrated the wards of her mind and resonated in her mind, ringing like bell in the deep silence.

"Don't do it, STOP!"

Ginny didn't even have time to comprehend what happened. All she knew was her eyes flew open and before her brain had the chance to visualise the sudden burst of light into images, all of it flashed in bright colours. She felt her mouth open and a stinging pain ran through her throat, as if she had suddenly shouted in a very loud voice.

But she couldn't have, she just couldn't have because there was no one in _her_ world who would hurt her.

Then slowly, after-flashes of the sudden light burst melted into darkness, swirling and whirling with the blackness; in the very blackness which assured her that the pain would finally end.

Before she was lost in the absolute blissfulness of the darkness, she saw his smiling face on the other end, in the deeper end of this endless tunnel.

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

HERMIONE'S PRESPECTIVE

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

She was bewildered and that was the understatement of the century. She knew something was wrong with Ginny from the way she was behaving; she was spacing out a lot and giving her frightening and creepy stares which made shiver run down her back.

But _this_… she would have never expected in her wildest nightmare. Ginny had leveled her wand against her chest looking quite deranged. The look she was giving her now paled Bellatrix Lestrange most deranged look by many degrees. It wouldn't have surprised Hermione if Ginny suddenly shouted the Killing Curse.

And she instantly knew that trying to reason her with brutal force would only complicate the situation.

So she raised her hands in a surrender position and said,

"Ginny… calm down. We can talk this over calmly. It's all a big misunderstanding, nothing more."

"Don't lie to me," Ginny spat out and red sparks flew out of her wand. Hermione's hand automatically twitched for her wand, but somehow she managed to suppress that instinctive reaction of her, hoping that Ginny didn't see _her_ little reaction. It wouldn't do any good to complicate the situation further.

"I'm not," said Hermione, "I swear, just listen me out and then if you want, you can do anything with me. Okay!"

But Hermione was not ready for handing herself to Ginny if she didn't agree or understand. If it came to that, Hermione was willing to use violence to drill some sense in her head. From the start of their little conversation, Ginny had been acting like a lunatic and to top it off, she had been babbling something about her and Harry.

"You are not lying, are you?" said Ginny, her eyes boring deep down in Hermione's eyes.

Hermione stared right back in her eyes and was relieved to see that her eyes were now a little soft. There was a spark of understanding in her eyes and were less dead than before.

But then suddenly, Ginny's eyes went blank… they lost every speck of life. Her wand arm which had been pointed at her chest fell limply to her side and her knees buckled. Her knees crashed in the hard floor with a _smash_, but she didn't respond to the sudden collision. In fact, she didn't respond to anything.

Too shocked to speak, Hermione just rushed to her side and pulled her in a hug. She was further shocked when she saw tears running down her cheeks. The brown eyes which always gave the impression of melted chocolate looked like sun-cracked soil now; there was no sign which could tell that these eyes belonged to a living person.

Hermione hugged her tight again, whispering words of comfort in her ears, patting her head slowly and lovingly.

She didn't know how much time passed as she continued patting and hugging her, but she was sure it couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Then suddenly, Ginny let out an anguished cry and pushed Hermione away with all her strength.

Befuddled, Hermione couldn't hold her balance as she fell down on the floor with a _thump_. She stared at what should have been the face of Ginny Weasley, the feisty petite girl but was now only a bad impersonation of it.

And even though it was the same face, Hermione just couldn't bring herself to associate the past Ginny with the Ginny she was seeing now.

The wand arm which hung limply till some seconds ago suddenly sprang up again and this time, Hermione was scared… scared of many things… scared of —

"What happened, Miss Hermione?" a concerned voice reached her ears.

But, Hermione couldn't care less. The whole world has suddenly shrunk down for her.

"Mi—what's this?" the concerned voice suddenly took an alarmed note in the middle of the sentence. As Hermione's ingenious mind quickly solved the puzzle, the voice had already shouted,

"_Stupefy!_"

"Don't do it, STOP!" Hermione shouted, shouted like a woman who was desperately trying to save her child.

But it was too late. Even before the first syllable had left her lips, the spell had already been dispatched for its target.

Hermione's hand fumbled for her wand, trying desperately to get a hold of it. But on the other hand, the spell target was unconcerned; if anything Ginny was looking a little happier now, happier in an eerie, almost blood curdling way.

Hermione was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the barrage of spells running towards Ginny nor did she hear the cries of the spell casting.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The sudden cry of pain pulled Hermione out of her reverie and her head whipped in the direction of the shriek.

And her eyes almost popped out of their holes; Ginny body was lit with spells fires. The approaching jet of lights made halos around Ginny. If this wasn't such a dire situation, Hermione would have marvelled the way the halo made Ginny look more beautiful.

Before she knew it, Hermione's wand was in her hand as her hands turned into a whirl of colour. She desperately cried '_Protego!_' again and again while tears trailed down her cheeks shimmering with the faint light of the spell fires.

She stood there, protecting… defending the one she cared about. Exhaustion she had been so adamantly been denying for the past hours started to grasp at her consciousness her but still she fought it with every breath.

In some seconds, the barrage of spell ended but Hermione's desperate attempt at saving Ginny didn't. She stilled flicked and swished her wind as her throat grew coarser and coarser by every repetition of '_Protego!_'

"Hermione," an alarmed cry reached her ears and before she had the time to gauge a reaction out of her already stupefied brain, warm hands engulfed her from behind, successfully stopping her ballistic reaction.

"What happened?" the voice asked her, "I heard a co —"

The voice faltered in the middle and suddenly cried out in an eardrum bursting octave,

"Ginny!"

As soon as the support of the warm entity left her, Hermione fell down.

She saw a man crouching down, where Ginny was laying, lost in her own world.

Fresh batch of tears leaked out of her eyes, as Hermione stared in space.

"Hermione, Hermione," came a frantic voice. Someone shook her from head to toe. But by now, she was devoid of energy.

But the truth was, she didn't want to open her eyes and face the world. Everything was so calm in the darkness, like there wasn't a thing which was wrong in the world.

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

GINNY'S PRESPECTIVE

+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+

Ginny cracked open her eyes.

Everything was blurry and she could feel whole of her body throbbing with the pain. Her memory of the past couple of hours was quite hazy.

But surprisingly, she didn't care even though she felt like she was forgetting something, something very important.

"Hey Ginny," came a sweet voice, breaking through the fog which had gripped her mind.

Ginny reacted to the voice. Her eyes, which until a moment ago were drooping low, snapped open and even though everything was still blurry, she still desperately tried to stare at the face of the owner of the voice.

"What happened Ginny?" the same voice spoke again, worry evident in its voice.

"H — Ha — Harry," Ginny croaked out, her voice barely an octave above a whisper.

"Yes," the voice replied in affirmative.

Ginny smiled and closed her eyes; the mere thought of being near Harry making her mind calm as morning wind. Ginny rubbed her head against the soft pillow as she felt the last shred of sleep sinking back into depths.

She opened her eyes again after some time and saw two sparking green eyes, looking at her lovingly.

"Harry?" she tentatively said.

"Yes?" replied Harry, without missing a beat.

"You are really here, aren't you?" she said, "It is not a dream, is it?"

"Even if it is," said Harry, bending to kiss her forehead, "let's not wake up ever again."

"Yeah," Ginny said, savouring the touch of Harry's lips on her forehead, "I like your idea."

"Mr. Potter?" came a voice, barging into their private moment.

Ginny internally fumed; _why can't anyone give us more than some moments?_

"Yes Madam Pomfrey," said Harry.

"Is Ginny awake?" Madam Pomfrey enquired.

"Yes," replied Harry, "she just woke up a moment ago. What about Hermione?"

"She is still asleep," Madam Pomfrey sighed resignedly and looked away.

"What happened?" asked Harry, worry evident in his voice.

"Nothing Harry," Madam Pomfrey said, "It's just that Ron refuses to take Dreamless Sleep Potion and he looks dead on his feet."

"He is just worried about Hermione," said Harry in a resigned voice; it seemed as Harry had tried to talk some sense into Ron but with no success.

"But it wouldn't do any of us any good if he ends up in a hospital bed because of his stubbornness," explained Madam Pomfrey.

"That's Ron for you," Ginny said, crooking a smile.

"Ah…" said Madam Pomfrey, as if she had just taken notice of Ginny, "How are you feeling now? Do you feel pain or any kind of throbbing in any part of your body?"

"Let me check," Ginny said dramatically, a teasing smile gracing her lips, "Every part of my body is groaning in pain."

"Thank Merlin for that," said Madam Pomfrey smiling, "I would have been concerned if you have said that you were feeling fine."

Ginny laughed and it felt like she was laughing after quite a bit of time.

"I will leave you two alone now," said Madam Pomfrey and then she levelled her gaze at Harry and said, "And you young man, don't overexert yourself; your wounds are still tender."

Harry nodded but Ginny was slightly confused because of her hazy memory.

After some stressing, Ginny remembered all that had happened today, all the pain she had went through.

"Harry," she suddenly began, "how are you?"

"I'm fine," said Harry, waving off her concern. But Ginny was not satisfied.

"You sure don't look fine to me," complained Ginny, pointing at the bandages which were draped around Harry's head.

"See who's talking," said Harry smiling, "You are more injured than me."

"Don't be so stubborn," said Ginny, trying to pull herself in a sitting position. But Harry forced her back down.

"Don't overexert yourself Ginny," said Harry, "after all that stunning spells you took, it's a miracle that you are still conscious."

"Stunning spells?" repeated Ginny.

"Yes," said Harry shaking his head ruefully, "Do you honestly not remember anything?"

"Nope," replied Ginny, looking at Harry with confusion, "What happened exactly?"

"No one knows," said Harry, "When Ron was strolling in the seventh floor corridors he heard some commotion. He went to enquire and saw Hermione erecting shields around you like she has lost every sense of reasoning and you just lied on the ground, still as a statue, most probably unconscious. So to conclude, it seems as Hermione is the only one who could shed some light over this matter."

"But then," Ginny began remembering Harry's conversation with Madam Pomfrey, "what happened to Hermione?"

"That again, no one knows," said Harry with a resigned sigh, "When Ron looked at Hermione after checking if you were alright or not, he found her sprawled across the floor, unconscious."

"Is she alright?" asked Ginny worry evident in her voice.

"Yes," said Harry, "Madam Pomfrey said that she was just exhausted."

Silence surrounded them but the silence this time felt soothing somehow.

"So," began Ginny, not knowing what she would say next.

"Hmm…" Harry hummed, stroking her hair.

"What about the others?" asked Ginny.

"Whom?" asked Harry in response.

"Others who are injured," said Ginny.

"They are being treated in St Mungos," said Harry nonchalantly.

"St Mungos?" said Ginny, surprise evident in her voice.

"Yes St Mungos," said Harry smiling, "I hope you do remember what St Mungos is."

"I know that," said Ginny pouting, "but the last I checked, there was no response from them."

"Let's just say," said Harry smiling, "Kingsley is not the kind of Wizard you would like to face when he is angry and top it off with Professor McGonagall's anger…"

"I can picture it," said Ginny.

"Then where are we?" asked Ginny suddenly, looking at the surroundings.

"In seventh year boy's dorm," said Harry, "This is the bed I was resting in before you snatched it from me."

"Don't be so melodramatic," said Ginny, slapping Harry's torso.

Silence again surrounded them, but like before, the silence was pleasant.

"How is everyone coping?" asked Ginny. She needed to know how others were coping.

Harry didn't reply immediately as he seemed to be lost in thought.

The silence was not intimidating or depressing and even if it was, she was too busy to notice it. Her mind was still filled with the afterimages of the war… of suffering people… of dead bodies… of an injured Harry…

"I don't know," said Harry with a long resigned sigh, "They are not letting me go out of the room; they say I am still too weak."

"And they are right," said Ginny firmly.

"Not you too Ginny," said Harry shaking his head ruefully.

"Why not?" said Ginny, "You have risked your life enough already."

"What about the others?" asked Harry, his cheeks turning red with anger.

"Even if everyone here combines the sacrifice they have made," said Ginny, pushing Harry's hands away to sit up, "it will still only make for a meagre percentage of what you have sacrificed till now."

"You are just exaggerating Ginny," said Harry, looking away from her.

Ginny held Harry's face in her hands, and forced him to look in her eyes.

"Listen Harry," said Ginny, "You have done enough, it was never your duty and still you went out and went through Merlin-Knows-What troubles to help us."

"I was just fulfilling my destiny," said Harry, "Nothing more."

"And who said that?" said Ginny.

"Didn't you ever read _Daily Prophet_?" said Harry, "They got it right that time; I was The Chosen One as I am sure you know. It was my destiny to defeat Voldemort —"

"No it wasn't," said Ginny, "You just made it yours. I heard about all the prophecy shit from Order members and from what I gathered, you always had the choice of hiding."

"What good would have come out of that?" said Harry, his hands curling into a ball.

"That's not the point here," said Ginny, "All I want to say is, you went out of your way to protect others and now you have done it, your job is finished. And even if it was your destiny, you have completed it, your part is done."

Ginny paused, waiting for a rebuttal from Harry. When none came, she sighed and said, softly than before,

"You are the last one who needs to worry about anything."

"But I can't help it," said Harry, "When I see all the destruction that has happened, I feel helpless. If only I have given myself to Voldemort sooner —"

"Don't you dare utter anything more," said Ginny, pressing her palm on his lips.

"Don't you dare," repeated Ginny as tears started to leak out of her eyes.

And a moment later, a fresh batch of tears started to leak out of her eyes as images from past night started to assault her mind. Her bodies shook with the sobs which she has been trying to suppress from all this time.

She buried her head in Harry's chest, using his warmth to confirm that he was still here that it was not a sweet dream that will end as soon as she woke up.

"Shh… Ginny," whispered Harry, "Don't cry, everything is alright."

She desperately wanted to believe him but a sinister voice in the back of her mind kept reminding her all she had lost, of all she had nearly lost.

So she clung to Harry like her very life depended on it, she clung to him like a scared little child clings to her mother.

She didn't remember for how much time she cried in his chest or when sleep finally over flew her to peacefulness.

Ginny opened her eyes because of the loud noises that were playing around her.

"What's going on?" complained Ginny, pulling herself in a sitting position.

"Nothing," said someone and Ginny thought that she recognised the voice. But not wanting to stress her mind, Ginny ignored it and started looking around her surroundings.

She soon noticed that Harry was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Harry?" she asked, looking around.

"He has gone out for something," said Charlie.

"Why did you let him go outside?" Ginny shouted at Charlie, her good mood dispersing in a moment, "You know he will just fret over the situation and blame himself for all the troubles other are going through."

"You can't stop a bloke like Harry," complained Charlie, "And there is absolutely no chance to stop him when Professor McGonagall and Kingsley are the one who have come to pick him up."

Ginny sighed, feeling resigned. She was now a little relieved at the very least; surely Kingsley and Professor McGonagall wouldn't let that idiot do something reckless.

"So how are things going around there?" asked Ginny, propping her legs against the bed.

"Better than before," said Charlie, "that's for sure. St Mungos finally agreed to help us."

"How did that happen?" asked Ginny. She remembered Harry telling her the same thing but he was too vague.

"I don't know the specific myself," said Charlie looking a little irritated, as if the mere idea of being in darkness offended him, "but from what I have come to hear, Kingsley and Professor McGonagall literally threatened St Mungos head and if rumours are to be believed, Professor McGonagall even transformed him into a mouse."

"Really?" asked Ginny laughing.

"Yes," said Charlie laughing.

After a pause Charlie began, in a little graver tone, "But everyone is still in a trauma, especially the people who had lost someone. But overall, everything is slowly but surely progressing."

"What about Mum and Dad?" asked Ginny tentatively.

"Dad is coping and trying to put on a brave face for all of us," said Charlie and this time his voice sounded close to tears, "But I know he is as broken as everyone else. The only thing which is keeping all of us going is Cheering Potion and Calming Draught, otherwise I don't think any of us would have been able to behave like we are behaving now."

"What about Mum?" asked Ginny again.

"Mum…" Charlie sighed, "She is the worst among all of us. None of the potion seems to affect her much and we are scared to give her a large dose, fearing side-effects."

"Where is she now?" asked Ginny.

"She is resting in Professor McGonagall's room," said Charlie, staring out of the window.

"I need to go and visit her," said Ginny, jumping to her feet. Her feet protested and a stinging pain ran through them. Her knees wobbled and if it wasn't for Charlie, she would have crashed in the floor.

"Easy there," said Charlie while helping Ginny to sit on the bed.

"What happened to my legs?" said Ginny in a panicky voice.

"Nothing," said Charlie, "you just got a little beaten up —"

"What!" exclaimed Ginny in surprise.

"Yes Ginny," said another voice.

Ginny turned her head to look in the general direction of the voice and saw Hermione standing there.

"Hermione," exclaimed Ginny in happiness as she jumped out of the bed, forgetting for a moment about the tender condition of her legs.

_SLAM_.

This time, Charlie's concentration was on some other point and Ginny's knees came crashing on the floor.

"Ouch," Ginny yelped while massaging her knees. Hermione laughed as she supported Ginny in a standing position.

"Such a helpful brother you are," Ginny said scathingly, glaring at Charlie. Charlie laughed loudly, ruffled Ginny's hair and turned to Hermione.

"What brings you here Hermione?" asked Charlie, plonking on a nearby chair.

"Nothing Charlie," said Hermione, "It's just that others think you might need some rest; you have done enough already."

"But there's still much left to do," said Charlie, heaving a deep sigh.

"You boys are all like," said Hermione shaking her head, "But you listen to me Charlie Weasley, if you dare get out of the bed before morning, I will have you tied to a bed for a week in the very least."

Charlie laughed and said,

"Okay Mum. I'll go to the bed after I check some thing."

Ginny couldn't follow the conversation, it felt completely out of place. She had never seen Charlie and Hermione behave like this, like they didn't have a care in this world. She would have expected them to be in shock or at the very least, be sad. She stared at both of them, and wondered if it was the work of Cheering Potion.

She looked at Hermione's face and saw dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was a mess and that was putting it lightly. Even though there was a smile on her lips, her face seemed dead. If Ginny didn't know better, she would have said that she wasn't Hermione.

And Charlie wasn't an exception. He looked worse if possible.

"Ginny," said Hermione, shaking Ginny's shoulder.

"What?" asked Ginny as she was pulled out of her reverie.

"You are spacing out," said Hermione.

"What's happening Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking deep in Hermione's eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione, staring at Ginny with a quizzical look on her face.

"You damn well know," said Ginny firmly, grabbing Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione sighed and looked away.

"Hermione," said Ginny, "why these fake smiles? Why? We all know what we are going through, so why does everyone think there is a need for faking smiles, for faking laughter."

Hermione didn't reply as she continued to look away from her.

"Hermione, answer me!" screeched Ginny, forcing Hermione to look at her.

"For…" Hermione weakly began, "For others and above all, for Harry."

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny, her grip on Hermione's shoulder loosening.

"You know what I mean," said Hermione in a weak voice, her voice barely above a whisper, "We all know he is a big brooder, always worrying himself sick over others and their problems. So none of us wants to let him see all the pain we are going through. And that's why everyone was trying their best to establish a contact with St Mungos. We wanted to move all of the injured out, away from Harry's sight."

"But why?" asked Ginny, "One day or another, Harry is going to find out about this."

"We know," said Hermione, "But we are just trying to prolong the inevitable. You know why Harry fell down the stairs."

"No," Ginny answered back in a whisper, without loosing a beat.

"We don't know for sure ourselves," said Hermione, "but I have formulated a little theory."

Hermione paused at this point and Ginny held her breath in anticipation. When Hermione didn't speak up further, Ginny whispered in an urgent voice,

"Continue Hermione."

Hermione hesitated for a moment before continuing. It looked as if Hermione thought that the information might be too much for Ginny.

"I - and Ron too - think that Harry was affected by the sight of all those dead bodies," said Hermione her eyes getting a blank look as if she was lost in memories.

The silence stretched for a while and when Ginny was thinking that she might have to force Hermione to continue, Hermione spoke up.

"Harry was almost ready to die from guilt as he saw people crying over dead bodies and injured moaning in pain."

"But everyone was cheering," intercepted Ginny in a weak voice.

"Mourning is always done in privacy," said Hermione with a sad smile on her lips, "while people tend to show their happiness a little too much."

Silence stretched on and this time Ginny was not happy with it. She already knew what Hermione told him, but hearing it coming from others lips somehow made it more real, more daunting and scarier.

"But Madam Pomfrey thinks that it just happened because of exhaustion but we all know that Harry is not one of those who bow easily in front of exhaustion. But combine it with the tremendous amount of guilt Harry must have been feeling and it feels possible."

"But wouldn't Madam Pomfrey theory be more acceptable," said Ginny, "After all the dead body Harry have seen, no one will believe your theory."

"But we know better," said Hermione, "we know Harry better than most. How do you think it would have affected Harry, the same Harry who locked himself away after Sirius death, who blamed himself for Cedric's death."

For this comment, Ginny had no reply. She just stared at Hermione's blankly, while her mind was in frenzy, trying to digest all the information that Hermione had given him.

"And as you have known by now," said Hermione, "St Mungos accepted to help us under the immense pressure of Order and Hogwarts staff."

Ginny nodded; so Kingsley and Professor McGonagall represented Order of the Phoenix and Hogwarts staff respectively.

"And you know why did they took this dangerous method?" asked Hermione. Ginny shook her head even though she had quite an idea.

"There are many reasons," said Hermione and Ginny had to bite back her tongue to stop herself from shouting, '_Enough with the suspense; just tell me already._'

"But the two most prominent ones are," said Hermione, glaring at Ginny as she opened her mouth to speak, "Reporters have surrounded Hogwarts and are trying to enter the castle to get an exclusive interview from anyone who have as much as seen the fight and it was causing quite a bit of disturbance and the second one was, the effect of potion's on Harry was starting to wear off. This worried Kingsley and Professor McGonagall, as they didn't want Harry to see the actual extent of the damage."

Hermione paused and took a deep breath while Ginny cursed herself and called herself many names in her mind. She had thought that the war would have some effect on Hermione but she was sadly mistaken. If anything, she was speaking more than ever.

But she was glad too, glad that something never change, no matter what happens.

"So…" said Hermione again, "Any questions?"

"None," said Ginny with an unmistakable sigh of relief.

Silence surrounded them again. Silence stretched on, none of the two making a move to break it.

"Huh…" Hermione sighed.

"Hey Hermione," said Ginny suddenly, turning to look at Hermione, "how did I ended up here?" She finished, pointing at the bed she was sitting on.

"Well… erm…" Hermione hesitated and it only provoked Ginny to enquire further.

"Just tell me," said Ginny, "it's not like I will kill you if you tell me. But the opposite can be quite plausible."

"You don't want to know," sighed Hermione, staring deep in Ginny eyes.

"You know Hermione," said Ginny pointedly, "it only makes me all the more interested in knowing what happened."

Hermione stayed silent and Ginny while waiting for a response from her, bored holes in Hermione's body.

"Fine," said Hermione after a long stretch of silence, looking quite annoyed, "Around a dozen people aimed at you, most probably to kill you or at least put you in a life-threatening condition."

"That don't sound so good," said Ginny after giving a long hard stare at Hermione, making sure that she wasn't joking, "But why so?"

Hermione's cheeks flamed red with embarrassment as she fumbled with words.

"Err… Be — ec… because…"

"Yes…" Ginny encouraged.

"… of me," whispered Hermione in a barely audible voice.

"What?" said Ginny reflexively as what Hermione said started to register in her mind.

"WHAT!"

Hermione sighed as if she had expecting it.

"Yes."

"And why do you think so?" asked Ginny, her cheery countenance replaced by a sour one.

"Your wand was pointed at me," said Hermione who seemed to be more at ease now, "You" — ("Why would I do that?" shouted Ginny in a revolted tone, flailing her hands in air,) — "were behaving like a lunatic, blabbering and yelling about Merlin-knows-what."

"I didn't…" said Ginny as her mind tried it's best to resurface the forgotten memories. She was so lost in her memories that she didn't even notice Hermione shaking her and calling out her name.

And it fruited in the end as her slightly hazy memories of the past hours cleared.

As the memories got clearer and clearer, Ginny face turned redder with embarrassment.

Now standing there with Hermione, Ginny couldn't comprehend what could have driven her to take such drastic measure. There was no way Hermione would try to steal Harry from her.

"Well…" said Ginny.

"What?" said Hermione, giving Ginny a quizzical look.

"Let's get out of here," Ginny said in a loud voice; she was desperate to change the topic now. Trying to stand up by taking support of the side of bed, Ginny said to Hermione,

"I'm feeling suffocated here in this room."

Ginny prayed that she was persuasive enough.

"But I would rather sleep and rest."

"Well," said Ginny her mind whizzing around trying to come with a worthy retaliation, "I've been holed up in the Burrow and Hogwarts for about a year. So I think it's quite acceptable that I'm feeling kind of suffocated here."

"I understand," said Hermione in a weak voice, "but…"

"No '_buts'_ Hermione," said Ginny, "Won't you help your injured friend who got injured because of you."

"Hey!" exclaimed Hermione in a revolted tone, her eyes glinting with a menacing glint, "it was all your fault to begin with. Don't blame me for something you did,"

Ginny sighed internally; maybe she stretched her luck a little too much.

"But you get my point," said Ginny, as she bent down to show her weariness, "I want some fresh air."

"But…" began Hermione.

"Please!" said Ginny in the most pathetic way she could muster.

"Fine," huffed Hermione looking half annoyed and half resigned. She took Ginny's hand and marched off to the door all the while muttering darkly under her breath.

Ginny didn't dare ask what she was muttering for she felt it might be dangerous for her health to do so.

As they walked down to the grounds, Ginny saw that the scene of chaos was very much at control now. Most part of the broken walls were being patched up or were already fixed, the broken stairs were more or less fixed. Even though the scars left on Hogwarts by the war were still more than visible, there was definitely a progress.

"When did this happen?" asked Ginny, looking over Hermione's shoulder.

"Nothing much has happened," said Hermione, "These are all just temporary solutions. Order fears that there must be some Death Eaters at large and they don't want to take any chances. Hence the precautions."

"But," said Ginny, "still it is a big feat; I mean Hogwarts looked in tatters just some hours ago. But at least now it looks a little more solid."

"Well," said Hermione, "many people helped…"

"Okay. But weren't you knocked out cold when this happened?" asked Ginny curiously because she was sure Hermione and she were knocked out around the same time.

"Yeah," said Hermione, "but words travel fast."

"Yeah…" said Ginny and before she had the time to say more, Hermione spoke,

"Well, here's your Mum sleeping. Want to see her?"

Ginny just nodded because a sudden lump in her throat had snatched away her ability to speak. Hermione pushed the oak door open and they entered the dimly lit room.

In the middle of the room, on a poster bed her Mum slept like a log, or at least she appeared to. As Ginny neared, she could see the faint traces of worry lines on her Mum's forehead. Ginny traced them smoothly, trying to smooth them out but to no avail.

She could feel the now familiar sting of tears biting at the corner of her eyes as her breath hitched ever so slightly. The room felt like it was compressing down on her with all its might.

"Let's go Hermione," said Ginny in an urgent whisper as her knees wobbled. The room swam in her views and she could feel sob building in her lungs.

"But…" began Hermione. But Ginny turned to look at her, her eyes brimming with tears.

Hermione became silent at this as she literally dragged Ginny out of the room for Ginny had stopped walking, letting herself be dragged by Hermione.

Ginny mind was filled with the images from a few hours past, of her hysterical Mum… of the broken-up families…

Ginny shook her head, trying to dispense these thoughts.

"Hey Ginny," said Hermione, "Want to go in the ground for a stroll?"

Ginny just nodded her head in affirmative, still unable to speak.

As soon as Ginny left confides of the castle, her eyes were blinded because of the brilliant orange light, which managed to sneak out from the canopy of clouds.

"Isn't it too quiet?" asked Ginny to Hermione as her eye roved over the almost empty ground. Some people were scattered here and there but that was all. It was all too quiet, eerily quite. Even Hogwarts felt like some sort of haunted castle.

"Most of the people here are… erm… well — in shock," said Hermione, following Ginny's vision, "And the rest are busy with work. Although from what I'm hearing, the outside world is quite happy and celebrating with gusto."

"So in other words," said Ginny with a heavy sigh, "Hogwarts is in its own little different world."

"You can put it that way," nodded Hermione with a sad smile.

"Hermione! Ginny!" came an all too familiar voice. Both of them whipped their heads in the direction of the voice, and saw Harry coming toward them, along with Kingsley and Professor McGonagall.

"What are you doing Harry?" said Hermione in a happy voice, beating Ginny to the question. Ginny felt the sting of jealousy and barely managed to hide her displeased self.

"Nothing," said Harry, but from his expression it was clear that it was more than nothing, way more than nothing.

"It doesn't look so," said Ginny in a hasty voice, determined not to be beaten by Hermione this time. And she was right in choosing her actions for she had started speaking just a fraction of second before Hermione opened her mouth.

"Ah…" hummed Harry, looking away instead of answering.

"It's nothing to fret over," said Kingsley in his usual deep voice, "He just gave a little interview to some reporters…"

Ginny didn't need to hear more; she understood what Kingsley implied. _The Great Harry Potter was still shy_, Ginny thought with a smile

"Hey!" said Harry indignantly, "why are you smiling?"

It only made Ginny's smile stretch farther as she saw the disgruntled expressions on Harry face. But that expression was short lived, because merely a moment after Harry smiled and looked quite pleased at the change of topic.

"So what are you both doing here?" asked Harry.

"Just taking a stroll," said Ginny without missing a beat. It was like a rapid fire round for her; she had to beat Hermione at any cost.

"How's your health?" asked Harry.

"Good," answered Ginny feeling a little awkward because of the prying eyes.

"We should leave," said Hermione pointedly, probably noticing Ginny's uneasiness "I'm sure we all have some work to do and unlike some people, we can't abandon them."

Harry laughed and his laughter sounded like a beautiful melody to Ginny's ears.

"Yes," Kingsley nodded and diverted Professor McGonagall attention to the feeble state of Hogwarts. They soon were indulged in a serious conversation as they walked towards the big stairs.

"Where's Ron?" asked Hermione as she continued to look at the setting sun.

"He is sleeping," said Harry, "but I guess he would be awake by now."

"Okay…" said Hermione then turned to look at them, "Enjoy yourself Harry."

She turned to look at Ginny and said, "Don't let him get depressed, okay?"

"You don't need to worry about that," said Ginny, leaning against Harry.

Hermione started to walk away, but Harry suddenly spoke.

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing," said Hermione, "I will check on Ron, then help around and maybe read a book or two."

Harry laughed, but Ginny could feel lingering sadness in his laughter. To Ginny, it felt like two lovers saying farewell in a clichéd novel style. And that infuriated her.

"Let's go Harry," she said forcefully, tugging at Harry's sleeve and shooting Hermione a dirty look.

"Woah," said Harry in surprise as he started to walk beside Ginny.

"Bye Hermione," said Harry, turning to look over his shoulder at Hermione.

"Bye," said Hermione softly and Ginny heard her footfalls getting dimmer by the second.

"So…" said Harry as he sat beside a huge tree.

"What," said Ginny, resting her head against Harry's chest. The warmth rising from his chest felt pleasant to her head and she felt like she could spend an eternity like this.

Silence stretched around them, only interrupted by the _hush_ of the grass and the rattle of the trees.

"Do you think…" began Harry suddenly, "it will be all right?"

"What Harry?" said Ginny even though she knew what he was referring to. But Harry needed to face the problem if he was ever going to be rid of them.

"You know Ginny what I mean," said Harry and paused for a bit before continuing, "Do you think we can continue our life like nothing happened? Like there was no Voldemort to begin with."

Ginny opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. She wanted, no, she needed to compose her stray thoughts into a meaningful paragraph so she could remove every shard of doubt in Harry's head.

"Hmm…" Harry hummed.

"Harry," said Ginny, pulling her head away from Harry's chest. It took all of her strength to do so, but she needed to do so.

"I doubt that we can ever be like there was no You-Know… I mean Voldemort," said Ginny, reflexively using You-Know-Who instead of Voldemort's name, "We all have been scarred too many times to behave like that. I have l — lost F… F — red" — speaking his name was still very hard for her and she could feel a lump rising in her throat — "and many people have lost countless loved ones."

Ginny heard Harry sob and her hands ache to hug him, to tell him that everything would be fine. But as much as she wanted to, she needed to continue saying what she was saying.

"But now what we can be sure of," Ginny said, "is that the future ahead of us is threat free. Now we don't have to watch our step, wondering what would happen to us in the next second."

"But…" began Harry.

"There is no space for '_buts_' now Harry," said Ginny, "From now on, we have a clear future ahead of us."

"But," said Harry, this time firmly than before, "what about all the damage? How can the people who have lost so many things, so many loved ones continue with their life?"

"Honestly Harry," said Ginny with a sad smile, "Ask that question yourself. How many loved ones have you lost till date? But you know as well as me, life never stops; every day is a new page in the book called '_Life_'. Everything has a beginning and so an end."

Ginny paused for a moment, sucked in a nig breath to calm her unstable mind and said,

"You know Harry, after the war was over… I felt like I would die any second, such was the pain felt as I saw Fred lying on the table unconscious. But you know what, I couldn't, I wouldn't because then Fred death would be a waste. He fought for a clear future, knowing that he could die any second. We all knew that, but still we fought, and many of us fought till their last breath. Do you know why? Because we all knew, once this ends, this twilight will finally end and the sun will rise again and will paint our life with vibrant colours. We all knew that whatever happens, in the end there will be a vibrant future for the survivors. When someone plucks a flower, the plant doesn't die, instead it continues to bloom more flowers. That's how life goes on Harry. Fred isn't with us and I know I can't change it and it hurts so much that I still feel that dying might be the best option for me, but I won't die. Because… because I'm sure he would hate me for it…"

Ginny didn't know when she started crying. What was supposed to be a lecture to straight Harry's idiotic mind, turned into something which Ginny needed to confirm that Fred death wasn't in vain, to confirm herself that everything was fine, that it would be fine.

"Hush Ginny," said Harry, "don't cry."

Ginny reacted to Harry's voice and opened her eyes. Her eyelids brushed against Harry's shirt and she noticed that Harry had pulled her in a hug and had forced her head in his chest.

Ginny smiled at the irony of the situation; she had thought that she would be the one doing what Harry was doing when her lecture ended.

She pulled her away from Harry's chest and furiously wiped at her tears.

"Sorry Harry," said Ginny noticing the patch of wetness she had left on Harry's chest. Harry followed Ginny's eyes and said with a little smile,

"It's nothing."

Ginny smiled and crawled into Harry arms.

"Everything would be fine Ginny," said Harry, "everything would be fine."

"Yes Harry," said Ginny, repeating Harry's words in her mind like a mantra.


	5. Chapter 3

_**The Ticking Life  
Chapter — 3  
Death is Better**_

Ginny sighed as she admired the beauty of the rising sun.

"What are you doing?" came Hermione's voice.

"Nothing," said Ginny as she recovered from the sudden shock.

"Couldn't sleep?" asked Hermione with a motherly smile. Ginny smiled back, as another sigh slipped past her lips.

"Kind of," said Ginny as she sprawled on the grass. Morning dew tingled her skin and the cold sensation it left on her skin felt very good.

"Don't worry about him," said Hermione as she sat beside Ginny, "He will recover."

"I know," said Ginny.

Silence fell between them as both of them continued to do what they desired; Ginny looking at the rising sun and Hermione scrutinising Ginny like she was a healer checking her patient for possible symptoms of Dragon Pox.

"Stop it Hermione," said Ginny after going through some moments of Hermione's scrutinising, her nerves getting the better out of her, "stop irritating me." Her last words came snappier then she had intended to.

"I am not doing anything," said Hermione in a defiant tone.

"Then what's with the staring?" demanded Ginny as she pulled herself in a sitting position. Morning breeze breezed through her night clothes and Ginny basked in the sensation of the cold wind against her skin.

"I'm worried about you Ginny," said Hermione as she turned to face Ginny.

"Harry is the one you should be worried about," said Ginny pointedly, as she started playing with the blade of a certain grass she had suddenly founded interesting.

"No…" said Hermione more to herself than to Ginny, and then as if she remembered Ginny was there too, she added in a louder voice, "I think I'm right in worrying about you…" — Hermione continued in a louder voice when Ginny opened her mouth to retaliate — "… because you are suffering as much as Harry."

"No, I'm not," shouted Ginny, fisting out a handful of grass in her hysterics, "I'm not the one who has been admitted in St Mungos because of… because —"

"— he worries too much," completed Hermione, "And what are you doing is nothing different Ginny."

"It is different Hermione," said Ginny turning to look at Hermione. Her eyes glistened with the sunlight because of the unshed tears as she said in a weak voice,

"I'm not the one who collapsed during Fred's funeral —" Ginny hitched as she tried suppressing a sob "— and I'm not the one who is going through so much pain…" Her voice faltered as her vision blurred. Ginny had lost count of how many times she had cried during this week; to her, it felt like happiness was never in her life and never would be.

"I know that Ginny," said Hermione and her own voice sounded close to tears, "but you should remember how much pain Harry had gone through."

"I know Hermione," said Ginny, "And that's why it hurts so much because I cannot, because I cannot help him…"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but she closed it back when she noticed that Ginny was still speaking albeit in a voice lower than a whisper.

"… I remember it as clearly as if it had happened mere moments ago," said Ginny, her eyes glazed over because of the tears, "you remember it too Hermione, ha?"

— **X/|\X/|\X/|\X —**

Ginny looked around her as she saw people walking all around her, busy in preparing for Fred's funeral. She didn't know half of these people because Kingsley had been the one who had send them here, thinking that they would be too drained to arrange for the Funeral themselves.

While it was true for most of them, especially for her Mum and her, George was showing an unexpected level of enthusiasm. He was so full of energy that one could have easily thought that he was preparing for a rather wicked prank then preparing for his twin funeral, but the thing that gave him away was his red-rimmed and puffy eyes, and the warm trail of tears on his cheek.

"_It feels like the Burrow is not the Burrow anymore,_" thought Ginny bitterly, "_it's like it has turned into a haunted house full of Weasley ghosts._"

"Get up Ginny," said George, pulling Ginny out of her reverie as he forced her to stand up, "get ready, Fred's fun-" — George voice hitched a little as he tried to plaster a slight smile on his face — "-eral is about to start." A fresh assault of tears escaped from her eyes as Ginny saw the tear stained face of her brother. Ginny wanted to hug him, hug him as hard as wizardly possible, but she was afraid, afraid that if she did that, both of them would loose the last strand of strength they had.

So she just smiled and tried to mimic the smile which was playing on George's lips. But as Ginny turned to head up the stairs, she hoped that her smile hadn't look as sad as George smile had looked.

"Quickly change and come in the g-ar… garden," was all George said as he turned to head out. Ginny stopped and turned to look at the vanishing form of her brother because she was sure that she had heard him crying.

After quickly changing in the already chosen clothes, Ginny looked in the mirror for the first and final time today. And she despised the Ginny which looked out of the mirror, because Ginny felt like she should dress in tatters not in neat clothes, that her hairs should be a mess and that she shouldn't look so sophisticated because she was feeling ravaged from inside. She felt like she was disgracing the dead by going on their funerals like this.

"_But it seemed as society has some other standards,_" thought Ginny bitterly as she wiped a stray tear with the back of her hand. Her palms clenched themselves in a fist as a sudden impulse overcame her, but before she could work on it, it vanished and Ginny regained her senses. For a fleeting moment then, Ginny had wanted to punch the mirror into million shards because she couldn't bear to see herself but it passed before Ginny could have done anything.

Sighing, Ginny walked out of her room, feeling that she might do something drastic if she remained with that mirror for long.

Ginny sighed again as her eyes roved around the house, looking for Harry, Hermione and Ron. The last she had seen the trio was yesterday, when they had came back from Hogwarts. And after that they had vanished, as if they never were here.

After a while of searching, Ginny admitted defeat and walked down the stairs and in the garden, vowing to herself that she would find the three and give them a piece of her mind.

But it appeared as her luck was shining down on her as she saw the three friends, huddled in a close group in a far corner of the garden, completely hidden from the crowd.

Her feet involuntarily started to move toward them when a hand clasped down on her shoulder and made her stop in her tracks.

Ginny hands reflexively reached for her wand, only to realise that it was not there; it was in her room, locked away in her closet because she had felt like she wouldn't have to use it again, at least not for quite a long time.

But here she was, wishing for her wand as she turned to look at the person who had stopped her.

"What took you so long Ginny?" asked George, "everyone came down a century ago."

Ginny didn't have the energy to comment so she just smiled apologetically and moved to the front row, where her family was sitting, completely forgetting about the trio for the time being.

The funeral went well, as well as a funeral could go. During the funeral, Ginny was scared that her Mum might lose it, but surprisingly enough her Mum was calmer than she had been during the couple of days.

Everyone went on the stage to give their final blessings to Fred, when suddenly, someone shouted, "Mr. Potter."

It was like someone had opened Pandora's Box. Everyone's head whipped in the pointed direction and sure enough, Harry was there with Hermione and Ron.

Before anyone had the chance from recover from the shock of the sudden discovery, the man continued, "Won't you like to say something for Late Fred Weasley?"

Harry sat there motionlessly, looking at the man as if he was one of his kind. And for some weird reasons, Ginny felt a feeling of Dejavu.

"Orius," said Kingsley in a slightly alarmed tone, "what are you doing here?"

"Doing my work Minister," said Orius in an unconcerned tone.

"I will have to escort you out Orius," said Kingsley in a hard tone, "it's a private funeral and reporters are not allowed."

"I didn't come as a reporter," said Orius in defence as his eyes looked around.

"But if I remember correctly," said Kingsley, "you were not invited. Now if you will, please walk out right this second or I will make sure you are thrown out."

Orius snarled and he turned to look directly at Harry.

"You are just as my brother said," he spat and whipped out his wand, "And you don't deserve to live, not after my brother had to die because of you."

"_Stupefy!_" _SMACK!_

As soon as the spell left Orius lips, Charlie punched the wand away from his hand. Due to Charlie's intervention, the spell missed its aim and instead blasted a stone into million little shards.

Everyone's attention was on Orius, so no one saw Harry as his body started shaking rapidly, like a man possessed. Even Ron and Hermione had left his side, instead choosing to vent out their frustration and anger on Orius.

"HARRY!" Ginny shouted as she noticed Harry's deranged state. He was already sprawled on the ground, curled into a ball and repeating gagging motions without spewing anything out.

As if Ginny's word were a trigger, everyone's attention turned towards Harry and in a flash, everyone was rushing to his side.

But Ginny just stood there like a stone statue, silent tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared at Harry, her mind ordering her body to rush to his side, but her body seems to be rooted to the spot.

Before she realised, she had succumbed to her knees and had wept herself unconscious.

— **X/|\X/|\X/|\X —**

"Well…" said Ginny as angry tear trailed down her cheeks.

"Hmm…?" said Hermione, her eyes teary, it seemed as if she too, had been remembering yesterday's event.

"How's Harry now?" asked Ginny. When her family had gone to visit Harry — what remained of her family at the Burrow as half of her family, including her Mum and Ron had been by Harry's bedside since the moment he was admitted — they had completely forbidden her from leaving the Burrow. It was not as if they didn't want her to visit Harry, it was because of that damn Healer who had advised her strict bed rests as according to him, Ginny still seems to be in some kind of shock.

"He seemed fine," said Hermione with little hesitance and Ginny eyed her with menace, "but still unconscious." She finished looking like she had just swallowed a rather bitter potion.

"And I suppose that the healer was the one who told you that he was doing fine," Ginny asked looking far in the horizon.

"Yes," replied Hermione in a small voice.

"How can you believe what those healers have to say?" asked Ginny after a bit of silence, a note of resentment in her voice, "You should know better than that."

"Ginny…" said Hermione in a weak tone and if that was supposed to be a protest, Hermione needed medical attention more than anyone.

"What?" said Ginny as she turned to look at her, "Don't tell me they can cure Harry; I don't think anyone can. Don't misunderstand me Hermione; I do want him to make a complete recovery. But I don't think they can heal him."

"Believe in them Ginny," Hermione said as she pulled Ginny in a hug, "Believe in Harry."

Moments passed as both of them just held onto each other, as if the other was the only thing which was keeping the other tethered to the ground.

Sometimes they just let their tears freely flow out as they remembered everything and everyone they had lost and sometimes they just buried their faces in the other one shoulder, trying to stem the flow of their endless tears.

It was merciless, just merciless as they both sat there, consoling the other while wallowing in their own self-pity, in their own self-resentment.

Time seemed to trickle away ever so slowly as the warm May breeze engulfed them, almost as if taunting them at their helplessness, jeering at them for being so weak while other showed un-wizardly strength.

Finally both of them pulled out of the embrace, feeling as if eternity had passed and they were just the only person left there, left there to wallow in their self-pity for the remainder of time.

"Hey Ginny," said Hermione as she turned to look away from Ginny, taking a moment to wipe away the remnants of tears from her cheeks, "who's going to make the dinner tonight?"

Ginny groaned in spite of herself as she let the last of her tears flow away with the breeze and said smiling through her tears,

"I'm not; remember that I have been advised bed rest."

Hermione looked at her, disbelief written all over her face. She tried her best not to notice Ginny's red-rimmed puffy eyes and her tears strained cheeks, but as much as tried not to, her eyes didn't seem to comply with her wishes.

Ginny gave a slight smile as her eyes twinkled in mischief.

"I don't believe you," said Hermione as a soft laugh escaped her lips.

"Let's go inside," said Ginny as the silence around them continued.

"Is anyone coming back today?" asked Hermione as she stood up.

"Mum said that Bill will come to drop Fleur here," supplied Ginny, "Except her, I don't thinking anyone is planning to leave Harry's side anytime soon." She finished bitterly for she was the only one who hadn't been at Harry's side.

Hermione sensing the change in Ginny's voice, quickly said in a cheerful voice,

"I think it's good that they all are away."

Ginny gave her a quizzical look and Hermione continued, "We never get time for ourselves; Harry and Ron are always hovering around us. Let's make the most of it."

Ginny smiled and grabbed Hermione's hand as she dragged her inside the house, desperate to forget about everything for the time being.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

Ginny sat on the sofa, panting Hermione and she had done every little stupid thing they could think of. They were like little children, doing things on the whim, both trying to numb the pain in their heart.

"Today was fun, isn't it?" asked Hermione who was sprawled in a corner the sofa, her feet dangling on the edge.

"It was," said Ginny nodding her consent, "Let's do it again."

Hermione nodded, smiling brightly.

"Whose going to make dinner?" asked Hermione with a smile.

"You of course," said Ginny as she leaned further into the sofa, "I don't think I need to remind you —"

"Cut it short already," said Hermione and then went quiet.

But suddenly Hermione sat up, a strange happy reaction on her face, the same one she usually have when she manages to figure out a rather hard puzzle.

"What?" asked Ginny, eyeing Hermione deliberately.

"You said Fleur is coming tonight," said Hermione in a measured voice, but Ginny caught on quickly.

"But do you think her food will be edible?" asked Ginny, interjecting Hermione explanation.

"There is first time for everything," supplied Hermione but now she seemed a little unsure of her plan.

Suddenly the fireplace roared to life, turning emerald for a moment before a familiar but unexpected face walked out of it.

"George," Ginny and Hermione both exclaimed at once and before they could say anything, George lifted a hand, indicating them to be quiet.

Ginny and Hermione compiled and soon the fireplace roared emerald again and another unexpected figure stepped out of it, her Mum.

Going further into shock about what was happening; Hermione and Ginny just blankly looked at the fireplace as every member of her family walked out of the fireplace with Harry being in the middle.

"Harry," exclaimed Ginny and Hermione in surprise, a big smile coming on their lips.

"Woah," said Ron acting as a barrier as Ginny and Hermione struggled with him, trying their best to reach Harry.

"Get out of the way Ron," "Move aside Ronald."

Ginny and Hermione said at the same time and everyone chuckled at their timing.

"Leave Harry alone," came her Mum tired voice, "Healers have advised him bed rest."

Reluctantly Ginny retreated, making sure to get a good luck at Harry first.

To her disappointment, she saw that Harry looked as worn out before and he was being supported by Charlie. Her family seemed to be in a phalanx around Harry, protecting him.

It unnerved Ginny; they were back in the Burrow and it was not like Ginny and Hermione were going to pounce on Harry.

"Hello," said Bill as he walked out of the fireplace and almost walked back in the fireplace as he found half a dozen wands trained at him.

"Guys," he said, looking from one to another, "Weren't you all" — his eyes fell on Harry — "never mind that; can you please stow your wand now?"

"Beel," said Fleur who seemed to have Flooed in during the commotion, "Movve azide."

"Err…" said Bill as everyone stowed their wand back in the pockets, "Sure."

Fleur eyes went round as she saw every Weasley there; like Ginny, Bill and Hermione, she hadn't expected them to be here.

The tension in the room was so palpable that no one said aid anything, instead scattered around, with Ron and Charlie hoisting Harry to his room.

Ginny made a move to follow Harry and she saw Hermione mimicking her action, when her Mum said,

"Ginny, Hermione, help me in making dinner."

Ginny sighed angrily and turned towards her Mum, ready to burst at her when from the corner of her eyes she saw Hermione shaking her hand and motioning her to keep her quiet.

"What?" said Ginny in a hurried whisper as she sat beside Hermione, peeling potatoes with hands.

"Hmm…" said Hermione in the same whisper as she looked at Hermione.

Ginny just glared at her and Hermione sighed.

"Your Mum is just tired and she was thinking about Harry's health and she have to cook for all of us, so I don't think her asking for help was wrong."

"You know that's not what I'm angry on," whispered Ginny furiously, peeling a lot off potato with its skin in her anger, "Why wouldn't she just let me near Harry? It had been the same from the day we have returned from Hogwarts. As soon as I have some free time on my hand and go to visit Harry, she would just give me some new thing to do."

"Well…" said Hermione in a sympathising voice, "I don't know, but maybe it's just because she is tired and the circumstances aren't exactly helping."

Ginny scoffed and dug her thumb in the potato and pulled it out hastily as it burned her skin.

"Why are we peeling the potato like this?" said Ginny as she thrust the half-peeled potato in Hermione's face.

"Your Mum said so…" was all Hermione said as she barely dodged the potato.

Ginny scoffed, pulled out her wand and started to peel them wordlessly. She looked at Hermione when she felt her gaze on her body. Hermione seemed to be looking at her pointedly as if suppressing herself from saying something.

Ginny just looked at her oddly for a moment before she continued her work as fast as possible.

But as her luck would have it, her Mum appeared just before she finished peeling potatoes and gave a disapproving look to Ginny when she found Ginny peeling potatoes magically. Hermione seemed to be peeling potatoes the Muggle way and Ginny glared at Hermione for betraying her.

"Come with me and help me with the stew," said her Mum and Ginny stood her furiously, her lips quivering as she found herself at the verge of explosion.

But as she looked deep in her Mum's eyes, Ginny sighed; she wasn't prepared for that. She had expected her Mum's eyes to be ablaze with fire, but they were almost dead as if her Mum was just following the routine mindlessly, just doing the work for just doing it, not loving it like she used to.

The dinner was a low affair as almost everyone kept to themselves, the exception being Fleur. But soon she took in the gravity of the situation and started eating quietly, casting furtive glances once in a while.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

Ginny groaned as she lied down on the floor, beside Ron and Hermione, who seemed to be in a grave mood. They had just discussed the reason of their unexpected return.

It was not because Harry had been fit; it was just the opposite. Harry's condition had been stable but not good and the Healers were worried that because of the attention St Mungos was getting because of Harry's presence, they would be unable to give other patient the attention they required and secondly, Harry being in the St Mungos had made commutation for other patients and their family members quite hard as they had to submit to a full search before they were allowed to enter the St Mungos.

St Mungos head hadn't outright said that they wanted Harry out of the building, and Ginny could understand the reason, even if she didn't agree. If he had said so directly, Ginny could just imagine what the wizarding folks would have done to St Mungos and to him in particular.

Instead, he had said it as a suggestion, wording it such as it sounded as he was thinking in Harry's benefit. But none of her family members seemed to buy it, as Ron and Charlie lost their cool more than once and Percy even threatened to lodge a formal complaint against St Mungos for discrimination against Harry. Everyone had quite a laugh at this one as Ron explained how the colour from the St Mungos head drained when Percy had said that.

Her Dad had outright asked if he wanted Harry to shift some place else, and the St Mungos head had said that it will be better for everyone, and that he would send a couple of Healer as soon as he could spare some. To that, to everyone's surprise her Mum had replied that it wasn't necessary and that she could take care of her children herself.

"So," said Hermione and her voice seemed to resonate from every corner of the room, "Harry's going to stay here."

"Yeah," said Ron and he loudly swore. Ginny looked at his direction and saw him staring at a clock.

"I have to go," said Ron as he jumped to his feet and dashed towards the door.

"Where?" asked Ginny and Hermione in unison and both smiled at each other; they seemed to be doing this quite frequently today.

"I volunteered to keep Harry company tonight," said Ron, his hand resting on the door knob, ready to sprint to Harry's side at a moment notice.

"I will go," said Ginny without missing a beat.

"No, it's fine," said Ron, "I'll go. You take a rest, you need it."

"No, I will go Ron," said Ginny forcefully as she jumped to her feet, "You can rest in my place."

"What's the matter with you?" said Ron and he turned to look at Hermione, asking for an explanation when he saw Hermione giving him an expression of disbelief.

"Well…" said Ron as understanding dawned on his face, "I suppose I can do with a good night rest, but if Harry needs anything and I mean anything, just shout and I will be there."

"Thank you Ron," said Ginny sincerely, ignoring the last bit of sentence.

With that Ginny walked to the door, only to stop once again.

"What now?" asked Ron before Ginny could say anything.

"Where is Harry sleeping?" Ginny asked a little sheepishly, looking down to her toes.

"Ah…" sighed Ron, "Percy's old room; Percy is sleeping with George and Charlie."

Ginny smiled slightly and all but dashed out of the room.

She came to a stop in front of Percy's room, her eyes looking at the door with a mix of emotions. Ginny started sweating for unknown reasons, and her hands shook as she wrapped her fingers around the cold knob.

With an almighty push which seemed to drain her out of energy for a moment, Ginny pushed the door open and stepped inside, dreading what she would find inside.

"Ron," came Harry's whispered voice, "is this you?"

"No," said Ginny in the same whisper as she softly closed the door.

When the door was closed, the room was enveloped in the dim flickering orange light, coming from the lamp on the wall.

"Hey," said Ginny in a soft whisper as she took slow deliberate steps toward Harry.

"I wasn't expecting you," whispered Harry with a smile, craning his neck to look at her.

"I like to surprise you," said Ginny a smile coming to her lips.

"I think I may to grow like your surprises," said Harry with a faint smile as he tried to sit.

Ginny put a hand on his shoulder, and with a light pressure, pushed him back into the bed.

"You need to rest," Ginny said, sitting besides him on the bed.

"I don't," said Harry stubbornly with a smile on his lips.

Ginny just laughed softly and ran a soothing hand through his hair.

"I was bracing myself for Ron," said Harry, "And his boring tales; I swore to kill him if he repeated the Golden Years of Chudley Cannons; he had repeated it so much times that I feel like a Chudley Cannon history book."

"He has a habit of doing that," said Ginny.

"How are you?" said Harry in a slightly grave tone.

"The question should be," said Ginny, leaning to look Harry in the eyes, "How are you?"

"I'm fine," said Harry, "I don't know why everyone is fretting over me."

Ginny gave him a look of disbelief and Harry sighed.

"Okay, I'm just a little tired, but that's all, I swear that's all". Harry added as Ginny glared at him.

"But the Healers seemed to think differently Harry," said Ginny in a small voice as she remembered what Ron had told her about Harry's condition, how they thought that Harry condition was rather fragile.

"Please can we talk about something else," begged Harry, "Mrs Weasley, I mean your Mum was so insistent about taking care of me that she wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom alone."

Ginny laughed and Harry eyes sparkled seeing her smile.

"Tell me about it," said Ginny as she leaned against the wall, half-laying on the bed, her back resting against the bedpost. She started racking her fingers through his hairs and Harry leaned in her hand.

"You know how your Mum worries really easily," said Harry and Ginny nodded her head, "See, there was this healer who told that if I didn't have the strength to walk, I can err…" — Harry cheeks reddened and Ginny barely managed to stifle a laugh — "umm… relieve myself in the magical container like thing."

Harry paused, apparently too embarrassed to continue. Ginny nudged him softly and whispered, "Continue."

"Do I have to?" said Harry, but continued without waiting for an answer, "Anyway, so you know how it goes. I had too many liquid in my system — I wonder if I can call these horrible tasting potions liquid — so anyway," — Harry sucked in a breath — "I had the urge of using the bathroom but your Mum was like I was forbidden from leaving the bed and if I needed to use toilet, I could do so in the bed."

Ginny laughed at this and Harry made a face but a soft smile was still on his lips, as if he was happy to be embarrassed like that.

"So anyway," said Harry once Ginny had managed to control her laughter, "somehow I managed to persuade your Mum into letting me use the bathroom and then she insisted that she would come with me."

Ginny laughed again as Harry cheeks coloured spectacularly as he remembered what had happened back in the hospital.

"Continue Harry," said Ginny when Harry didn't say anything for a while.

"So…" hummed Harry and Ginny urged him to continue, "Anyway, Ron and I somehow managed to persuade your Mum into going me alone but she made Ron accompany me to the bathroom and the toilet was so crammed that Ron and I stood there back to back as I err… relieved myself."

Ginny laughed again as happy tears sprang out of her eyes.

After that, both of them just sat silent, enjoying the others company.

"Ha…" sighed Ginny as she looked at Harry, "I was supposed to keep you company, but you have been keeping me company."

"It's nothing," said Harry as he tried once again to sit, but Ginny's hand forced him down once again and Harry sighed in exasperation, but Ginny didn't notice it.

"I had so many things I wanted to talk you about," said Ginny staring at some unknown point, "but right now, I can't even think of one."

"You don't need to," said Harry, "we have a lifetime to talk about things."

Ginny smiled, bent down and kissed his cheek. Harry's cheek burned red and Ginny let out a soft laugh again.

"Aww… Harry, you are so cute."

Harry smiled and silence surrounded them. Ginny held Harry's hand and just sat there quietly, basking in the relief of being near Harry, knowing that he was fine.

Ginny didn't know when sleep finally claimed her or when she slipped down the bed till her head was resting on Harry's shoulder.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

Ginny stirred as she felt someone's hand on her forehead, running over it soothingly.

Ginny leaned in the touch, as she tried to open her eyes. But in her half-sleepy state, all she could manage was to crack open her eyes.

The room was shrouded in darkness and a dark figure loomed over her. She felt someone's controlled and soft breathing beside her and with a flash, Ginny realised that she had been sleeping with Harry.

A warm fuzzy feeling bubbled in her stomach, and for a moment, she forgot about the dark figure which was looming over her and Harry. And it wasn't until the moment she felt something being pulled over her, when she acknowledged the dark figure.

Panic filled Ginny as she tried to move her body, but only managed to thrash around, her half-sleep turning to be a curse.

Suddenly, she felt a soft and warm hand over her forehead and her mind calmed down. She tried to lean in the hand again, but this time the owner of the hand retracted it and left Ginny with an empty feeling. She whimpered at the lose of contact and tried to crack open her eyes again but this time they didn't.

Ginny tried to stir but this time her body felt like it was glued to the bed. She heard a tiny sob and her heart clenched in a vice, but still her eyes remained closed, it was as if Ginny was in a dream but something about this whole event made her believe that it was reality rather than a dream.

As Ginny gave in the silence, she heard the soft _pitter-patter_ of steps and suddenly her closed eyelids were ablaze with light.

But it only lasted for a moment and ended with the soft _thud_ of closing of a door.

Ginny smiled in spite of herself, her mind still covered in a thick haze of sleepiness as she turned to Harry's side and wrapped an arm around his chest as she snuggled her head in the hollow of his chest.

This was the last thing Ginny's mind registered as she lost the sense of time and soon lost herself in the peaceful sleep.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

"Get up Ginny," a soft almost song-like voice said in her ear and Ginny stirred, only to nest herself more snugly in Harry's chest.

But only, there was no Harry.

Ginny eyes snapped open in panic and she saw Hermione's face looming over her, her hands ready to shake her for a second time.

"Where is Harry?" said Ginny in a panicked voice as she shot up from the bed, her eyes roving all around the room.

"Calm down Ginny," said Hermione, grabbing a hold of Ginny's shoulder and looking her in the eye, "Harry is downstairs, eating breakfast."

Ginny sighed in relief and sat on the floor.

"Why didn't anyone woke me up?" asked Ginny.

"Mrs Weasley, I mean your Mum said that Healer had advised you bed rest so we should let you sleep," supplied Hermione as she sat besides Ginny.

"How considerate of her," said Ginny her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I wonder where this consideration was yesterday when she made me work like a house elf."

Ginny gulped as she felt Hermione's murderous glare on her body. She laughed nervously and stood up, ready to flee out of the room.

"I will go take a bath," she said already inching toward the door.

Hermione sighed, stood up and said, "Okay, I will meet you downstairs."

Ginny smiled a slight smile and headed down the stairs and to her room.

Soon she was standing in the Burrow's garden, dressed in loose jeans and a top and her hair in a loose ponytail, as her eyes looked around for any sign of Harry, Hermione and Ron. Her Mum had told her that they had headed outside.

The sun was warm and bright and a cool May wind was flowing around. Ginny just stood there, here eyes taking in the glorious view.

"What are you doing here Ginny?" came the voice of Charlie from her right side.

"Nothing," said Ginny turning to look at him, "I was just looking for Ron, Hermione and Harry?"

"They are in the back," said Charlie cocking his thumb in the said direction.

"Thanks," Ginny said with a pleasant smile and Charlie smiled in return.

Ginny walked in the direction Charlie had pointed her in, humming a tune.

Soon she spotted the three friends, lying down on the grass and discussing something in whispered voices.

Ginny inched towards them as quietly as possible but as her luck would have, Ron spotted her.

"What are you doing here Ginny?" asked Ron.

"I never knew you owned this place," said Ginny, her voice lacking the usual edge.

"Whatever," said Ron to Ginny's surprise.

"Hey," said Harry with a smile, turning to look at her.

"You look better," commented Ginny as she made a beeline toward him.

"You look great as usual," complimented Harry with a grin.

"Really Harry," said Ginny with a smile, 'you look really fit, not at all like the fragile Harry I was forced into believing you had become."

Harry laughed and said,

"Didn't I tell you, everyone was worrying over me for nothing."

"I didn't think that was nothing Harry," said Hermione sternly and Ron piped in,

"And falling down for no reasons isn't exactly in fashion mate."

Ginny and Hermione glared at Ron.

"What!" Ron said looking questioningly at both of them.

"You couldn't be more tactless," said Hermione with an angry sigh.

"How can I have such a tactless thing for a brother," sighed Ginny.

"What did I do this time?" moaned Ron his eyes beseeching to the three of them for an explanation.

"Don't look at me," said Harry as Ron looked at him, 'I have absolutely no idea."

They passed the rest of the afternoon in idle chit-chatter, till her Mum called them back in the Burrow for tea.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

"It feels good, doesn't it?" said Hermione as she leaned against the trunk of the aged tree.

"It sure does," said Ginny lying besides Hermione.

They had passed the afternoon talking about nothing in particular, but when her Mum had called them for tea, they have found an unexpected visitor there, Kingsley.

He had come to check on Harry and for discussing politics with her father and, to her Mum's and Ginny's great dismay, Harry.

Her Mum had even protested about it, but Kingsley had begged her Mum to understand the gravity of the current situation and it had taken the combined effort of her Dad and Harry to persuade her Mum.

But surprisingly, Hermione didn't want to participate in the conversation.

"So why didn't you wanted to discuss things with Kingsley?" asked Ginny, turning around and resting her head on her palms, "Didn't you always wanted to go in Law enforcement?"

"Not exactly," said Hermione sighing heavily as she looked at a point faraway and visible only to her, "but anyway, I didn't feel like discussing about anything important right now."

"I understand," sighed Ginny and continued after a bit of silence, "This doesn't feel real."

"What do you mean?" enquired Hermione, looking at her.

"I mean," said Ginny, suppressing a sob, "I never thought that it would be like this; I mean, I thought that after the war everything will be good and everyone would be happy and their would be peace in the world. But now, even when someone smiles, it looks empty, the smile never reach their eyes."

Ginny sighed once again and Hermione remained quiet all the while, silently urging her to continue.

"Look around you, Hermione, do you feel any happiness in the air. All I can feel is this sadness in the air. Everything is in a state of distraught; it feels worse now. There is this graveness in the air, it just makes me feel sick to my stomach, makes me feel like happiness has become a distant past for me… for everyone. Sometimes I just wish that the war had never taken place, so I would never have to loose Fred." Ginny finished, her voice faltering into silence as silent tears slid down her cheek and on to the grass, only to split into thousand little droplets and jump back.

"Sh…" said Hermione as she hugged Ginny, "Don't say that. Everything is going to be alright. But you have to know Ginny; things will be rough for quite a while. People had lost much, families had been destroyed and it will only heal with time. And by crying you are only making those sacrifices get to waste."

Ginny opened her mouth to interrupt but Hermione continued in a forceful voice.

"Sometimes it's really hard I know, but you know what I do at that point, I just remember how much Harry had been through, how much he had lost. But despite all that, you know what he continued, even though he knew that he could die at any moment, he continued in the hopes of a better future for us, the future we now have in front of us. And personally I hate to see that future being spoiled."

Hermione sobbed and Ginny sat and pulled Hermione in a proper hug, both of them crying once again in the others arm.

"I know Hermione," said Ginny through tears, "just give me some time to fix myself."

"You have the time of world right now Ginny," whispered Hermione with quivering lips, pushing her head from Ginny's shoulder to look her in the eyes, her eyes glistening with tears.

Ginny smiled and buried her face in Hermione's chest as a fresh batch of tears started leaking from her eyes.

When Ginny and Hermione had gone back to the Burrow, Ginny looked a little calm, but still her heart ached when she saw others lamenting silently, because it reminded too much of her own heart ache.


	6. Chapter 4

_**The Ticking Life  
Chapter — 4  
Flowing With Time**_

Before Ginny knew, a month had passed and Harry's health seemed to be improving, although he had gone to visit St Mungos for a couple of times, but he had assured her that it wasn't anything serious and was just going because of some final check-ups. He had insisted on going alone but her Mum had not listened to his persuasions much to Ginny's delight and assigned Ron — much to Ginny's dismay — to tag Harry whenever he went outside. Ron was more than happy to do so because that spared him from doing chores around the house and prevented him from her Mum's constant pestering.

Her Mum also seemed to be getting better by the day as she stopped being grave all the time and laughed occasionally. And her obsession for keeping her children in front of her eyes seemed to subside down to a tolerable level.

Her Dad was also trying his best to look cheerful but everyone knew that he was still hurting from inside. On more than one occasion, Ginny had seen tears trickle down his cheek as he stared at pictures of his family. However, those occasions seemed to be lesser by the day and her Dad appeared to be genuinely happy these days.

George, as everyone had expected from him, had been distraught for many days, much more than her Mum. However, with time, he had pulled himself together, and appeared slightly cheerful in front of others, but Ginny as well as others knew that he was not even this cheerful when he was alone. Their Dad had asked him if he was going to open up the shop, and he had replied that it just didn't feel right. Harry and Ron had offered their help if George planned to open his shop, which they insisted they should because Hogwarts students needed a place to stock up their weapons.

Bill seemed to be doing fine as he had moved back to the shell cottage with Fleur, but not before Fleur had a massive fight with their Mum about control issues. According to her, she was fed up with their Mum's nightly visits to their room and their invasion of privacy.

Charlie had been doing fine and had even tried going back to Romania a few times but under their Mum pressure, had succumbed albeit very reluctantly.

Percy had been doing well too as he was busy in the rebuilding of Ministry. He practically lived in the Ministry and only came to the Burrow for eating and sleeping. He kept a stoic and business like face in front of everyone, but their Dad had confided in them that there were a couple of time when he had broken down, blaming Fred's death on himself.

Ron had been by far the best among the Weasleys. After the initial phase of grieve, he had been the one who had caused ruckus in the house in place of George and everybody had gotten quite a good laugh out of those small pranks and a good yelling from her Mum. Under her influence, Hermione had been smiling a lot lately after Kingsley had sent some Oblivators to Australia to bring back her Mum and Dad.

Ginny, like everyone else in her family, had been copping with the deaths, although not as successfully as Ron or Charlie. Harry's fragile condition did not make it easy on her because the thought of losing Harry kept swirling in her mind whenever she saw him bent in pain.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

"Ginny," came Harry's voice as Ginny thought about what had happened in the past month.

"Back already," said Ginny, jumping to her feet to hug Harry.

"Yes," said Harry as he hugged her back, "Healer Jonathan said I should be fine and I shouldn't show him my face if I could help it."

"That's really good Harry," said Ginny with a grin on her face.

Harry sat down, leaning against the tree and Ginny following his lead, sat down beside him.

"So got any plans for today?" asked Harry suddenly, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"What are you thinking Harry?" asked Ginny with a sly smile as she poked Harry's chest.

"Well," said Harry, "Ron had a great idea …"

"That's new," said Ginny with a smile, nestling her head in Harry's chest, her ear pressed over his heart, "What is his '_great idea_' anyway?"

"He wondered if we could play a friendly Quidditch match," said Harry, looking down at her with adoring eyes, "He reckoned it will help in lifting everyone's spirit."

"Sounds good," said Ginny as she remembered it had been a long time since she sat on a broom.

"Okay," said Harry as he pulled himself and Ginny into a standing position.

"Where are you going?" asked Ginny as Harry let him towards the Burrow.

"We have to prepare for a match," said Harry grinning as he turned to look at her from over his shoulder, "Bill is already here and Charlie had been going on about kicking my arse to next century."

"Everyone knew?" exclaimed Ginny in surprise as she jammed her feet in the ground, forcing Harry to come to a sudden stop.

"Yes," said Harry tentatively as Ginny eyes bore holes in Harry's skull, her countenance making it clear that she wanted an explanation and that explanation had better be good.

"Well…" said Harry, shifting his weight on his feet, not daring to look Ginny in the eyes as she tapped her right foot in irritation, her hands on her hips, "the thing is, Ron came up with this idea, well yesterday, when he was reading _Quidditch Weekly_."

"And you both thought that it will be best if you keep me waiting till the end?" asked Ginny her eyes burning with a furiousness that made Harry stutter on his words.

"No… no," said Harry vehemently, "that's, that's not it. We didn't tell you because…"

"Yes?" urged Ginny her eyes still dipping menace.

"Well… because we know how much you love Quidditch," explained Harry, taking her hands in his own, "and we didn't want to spoil your day if you know, someone cancelled. And…" Harry said pulling her closer, "I like to surprise you too, you know."

With that, he pulled Ginny closer and kissed her for a fleeting moment before pulling away, a teasing smile on his lips as Ginny whimpered.

"Sneaky Potter," scowled Ginny playfully as she walked hand-in-hand with Harry.

"I have been known to be sneaky at times," said Harry giving her a dazzling smile and Ginny laughed as she leaned on Harry's shoulder.

"Took you long enough," grumbled Ron as the Burrow came into view, "I was wondering if you forgot about our little match and started talking that sappy rubbish again."

"I don't think you would understand," said Ginny with a pointed look, "Seeing that you have the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"Hey," Ron protested, as his ears turned bright red.

"Blame Hermione," Ginny smiled and indeed Hermione was to be blame here. Sometimes Ron was so tactless in his pranks that it used to drive Hermione crazy and one day, she was so fed up with him that she charmed a pair of spoons to hit him whenever he said something even mildly offensive and whenever Ron complained about that she said that she was not the one with the emotional range of a teaspoon.

"On that note, where is Hermione anyway?" asked Ginny as she looked around, expecting Hermione to be walking somewhere around. Since the day, Kingsley had brought back her parents and had their memories restored, Hermione had been spending most of her time with them, only contacting them via Floo in once a while.

"She is inside," said Ron a little nervously, "with her parents."

"Her parents?" exclaimed Harry before Ginny had the time to react.

"Yes Harry," said Ron in a resigned voice as if he was scared of them, "They arrived moments ago."

"And…" said Ron after a bit of silence, "And they wanted to meet you."

"And let me guess," said Ginny with an impish smile, "you volunteered to bring Harry. You are such a scaredy-cat Ron."

"Mind your business," said Ron in protest, his ears and cheeks burning red with embarrassment. Harry snickered and Ron shot him a dirty look.

"What are you laughing at?" snapped Ron at him and it only made Harry laugh harder.

"Just come with me already," said Ron with a resigned sigh as he grabbed Harry's hand and started to drag him towards the Burrow. Ginny followed them, a cheerful smile on her lips.

Ron stopped in front of the door and pushed Harry forward.

"Go."

"Aren't you coming with me?" asked Harry as his hand rested on the doorknob.

"I think I'll pass," said Ron as fidgeted with his hands.

"Just go in Ron," said Ginny and suddenly pushed Ron inside. Harry had already opened the door a fraction and both of them tumbled in, closely followed by Ginny who was smiling all the while.

"Good Afternoon," said Harry nodding his head towards Mr Granger and Mrs Granger, a habit he had picked after giving so many interviews.

"Good Afternoon," said Mr Granger, "You must be Harry."

When Harry nodded, a smile came on his lips as he continued,

"I have heard so much about you from Hermione and you" — Mr Granger said turning to Ron — "would be Ron, if I'm correct."

When Ron nodded ever so slightly, Mr Granger continued in a slightly puzzled voice,

"I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you that you are Ron; Hermione had told us so much about both of you that I feel like I know both of you already. But why did you run away so quickly when we arrived?"

"Err… well," said Ron stuttering horribly, "I went out to call err… Harry; I thought umm… you — you would like to me — et him to —"

Ginny pressed her hands to her lips in hope of controlling the laughter she was feeling bubbling in her stomach.

"That was very thoughtful of you," said Mr Granger and Ron blushed horribly as Hermione gave him a horrified look.

"Dad," said Hermione suddenly coming towards Harry and Ron, "I need to talk to both of them."

Saying this, Hermione walked out of the room and Harry and Ron followed her slowly, and Ginny tagged them, interested in what Hermione had to say.

"What do you think you were doing there?" Hermione blasted at Ron as soon as they were a safe distance away from the Burrow.

Run stuttered again, wringing his hands as he looked everywhere but at Hermione.

Ginny smiled to herself as she watched the _free __show_. She always wanted to be a part of their group, but she had found that sometimes being the observant was the best course of action.

"Well…" glared Hermione, "Do you know how embarrassing it was for me? My Mum was giving me weird looks…" Hermione finished with an angry huff, boring holes in his head.

"I was nervous," said Ron in a weak protest, "You are the one who brought your parents here so suddenly."

"And how is that wrong Ronald?" asked Hermione, tapping her foot in irritation.

"Well…" said Ron and it seemed as if he was short of words, "it spooked me."

"And how much longer will my parent's presence _spook_ you?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

"I don't know," said Ron in an exasperated voice, flailing his hands around.

"Just give him some time Hermione," said Harry with a smile who seemed to have been looking for an opening to interrupt this argument, "After all, weren't you the one who said that Ron has the emotional range of a teaspoon?"

Harry seemed to find it funny as a smile stretched over his lips, but Hermione and Ron did not seem to think the same, as they both scowled at him said.

"Go away Harry." "Bugger off!"

Felling unneeded, Harry looked around and Ginny gave him a dazzling smile, one that Harry mirrored.

"Ready for the match Potter," said Charlie as he passed by him. From the second Charlie had heard about the Quidditch match, he had been in competitive spirit.

"More than you are Weasley," grinned Harry, looking at him, "After all, you used to play Quidditch when you were _young_."

"I'm _young_," said Charlie, emphasising 'young', "but even if I was not, I think I can at least say that I always manage to stay upright and on my broom during a match; unfortunately the same cannot be said about you." Charlie finished with a grin.

"That was a low one brother," said George as he literally walked in the conversation, "I might remind you that students back at Hogwarts say that Harry is the best seeker Hogwarts has ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised if a seeker-aspirant worships Harry name day and out."

"People say many thing little brother," Charlie said with a wink, "But not all of them are true."

"We will see that," said Harry grinning.

Charlie cocked an amused eyebrow and walked towards the shed.

"Damn," said George grinning with pure excitement, "today is going to be exciting."

"I'm hoping so," said Ginny as she walked to them, unable to contain her excitement anymore, "So when does the match start?"

"In two hour or so," said George, "Lee is supposed to come too and Bill promised to scoundrel some brooms for us." — He turned towards Harry — "But don't except any Firebolt Harry; you will be lucky if he manage to get his hand on a Nimbus 2000."

"Nimbus is good," said Harry as he remembered his first broom and its unfortunate end.

"You excited?" asked Ginny as she leaned towards Harry.

"Very," said Harry with a smile, "Who you are rooting for?"

"That's a cheap question Harry," said Ginny as she leaned in to peck his cheek and whispered in his ear, "Definitely for you; so don't you dare prove me wrong."

"I won't," Harry whispered back with a wink.

"Stop planning with my sister," said Ron as he walked towards them.

"Bugger off Ron," said Ginny as she waved her hands at him in dismissal, "No one called you; continue fighting with Hermione, don't mind us."

"Go away Ginny," said Ron ignoring Ginny's sentence, as he wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulder, trying to pull him away from Ginny.

"Why?" said Ginny suspiciously, as she tried to pull Harry back toward her, "He is my boyfriend."

"He is my best mate first," said Ron, continuing to pull Harry towards his side. Ginny tried to pull Harry towards him, but she couldn't; she was a feisty girl but not physically powerful.

"I am going to tell embarrassing stories about you," said Ginny poking her tongue at him.

"I don't care," said Ron evasively.

"To Hermione's Mum and Dad," said Ginny, dancing around from Ron's reach as he made a move to grab her.

"Fine," said Ron panting heavily, "I will tell Harry everything about your little things…"

"You wouldn't dare," interjected Ginny, growling.

"Watch me," said Ron with an evil grin, "You out-step your boundary, I will out-step mine."

"Anyway," said Ron as if suddenly remembered something important, "Don't waste my time; I have something important to talk about to Harry."

With that, Ron started pulling Harry away from Ginny as she fumed, but started stealthily following them. After all, Ron did not say that she could not follow and it was not as if she cared about what Ron said anyway.

"… understand Harry?" said Ron as he leaned against the wall.

"Let me repeat it first," said Harry, "George is running a book on who will catch the snitch today."

"Right," said Ron, nodding, "And I really need the money, so you need to catch the snitch today, I don't care how; I just handed my life savings to George."

"So much pressure for a friendly match," said Harry with a heavy sigh, "And what do you need so desperately that a scrooge such as yourself invested in such a dangerous endeavour."

"I have trust in your abilities Harry," said Ron in a voice that hinted that he was _trying_ to believe in Harry's abilities, "I really do."

"That doesn't answer my question," said Harry and his eyes flickered towards Ginny and he gave a slight smile and Ginny groaned; _so much for sneaking around and eavesdropping on their conversation._

"It better be not that Chudley Cannons fan collection set," sighed Harry.

"They have that out already," exclaimed Ron, his eyes twinkling like as of a curious child.

"I will take that as a no," Harry said sighing, "And do we even have a proper Quidditch team?"

"Don't worry about that Harry," Ron said smiling, "We called some people."

"Like?" said Harry.

"Neville, Luna, Seamus, Angelina, Katie, Dean and some others," said Ron scratching his head, "And yes, I almost forgot Oliver is coming too."

"Most of them can't even play," said Harry and as if some realisation dawned on him, he exclaimed, "Oliver Wood?"

"How many Oliver's do we know?" asked Ron irritated.

"And you said it was a friendly match," sulked Harry.

"Well, Kingsley thought that it was a good moment for all of us to relax, so you know he gave this idea to Dad and he seemed to like it," explained Ron.

"Kingsley knows about this?" asked Harry, staring at him.

"Of course, Kingsley knows about this," said Ron, shrugging his shoulder, "How do you think we managed to build a makeshift Quidditch field in our miniscule paddock?"

"Quidditch field?" asked Harry his eyebrows cocking in excitement and exasperation.

Ron bit his tongue as if he had said too much and Ginny felt anger towards her family; it seemed as she and Harry were the only one kept in dark.

She wanted to just barge in the conversation and give Ron a piece of her mind, but she resisted the urge, thinking that there might be more things that her family had been hiding from her... and Harry.

"Well," said Ron under Harry's glare, "Hagrid is coming too, and so is Professor McGonagall and a few members of the Order and Ted is coming to, with her grandma, Andromeda."

"I have this sudden urge to kill you Ron," said Harry and Ginny nodded her head vehemently, silently hoping that Harry would give in this urge.

"You can kill me after you win this match," said Ron, grinning.

"Couldn't you have turned this match into a public event?" snarled Harry, "Then you would have raked quite a few Galleons and you wouldn't have to bet your _lifesavings_."

"Now when you said it," said Ron, apparently lost in thought, "_Daily Prophet_ did offer Dad a good amount of Galleons if he allowed them to report this match."

"WHAT!" shouted Harry and Ginny back-stepped a bit out of reflex, "_Daily Prophet_ knows about this match."

"Someone must have let it slip," said Ron sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as if he did not care.

"How long had this thing been brewing Ron?" asked Harry suspiciously.

"Well…" Ron said looking at his shoelace intently, "George is going to kill me."

"If you don't tell me, I will," said Harry menacingly and Ginny added mentally, '_If they spare you, I will._'

"For a week or something actually," said Ron, "but I was only allowed to tell you about yesterday."

"Who was in the planning?" asked Harry sighing heavily.

"Everyone except you and Ginny," said Ron a little more confidently, "We would have told Ginny about it too, but we thought she might rat us out to you."

Ginny clenched her teeth so hard that her jaw ached, her fingers digging in the skin of her palm as she tried to contain her anger.

"Just great," said Harry in an irritated tone, "just bloody great. And Ron you know, suddenly my enthusiasm has died and I don't want to participate in the ruddy match."

"With the things at stake," said Ron grinning, almost impervious of Harry's irritation, "George is going to Imperius you and force you to fly if it comes to that."

Harry sighed in resignation and Ginny had an idea why, she herself would not put it past George to do that. Not that he would use Unforgivables, but when it came to twins and their tricks, sometimes Unforgivable looked like a child play.

"Just say, hypothetically," said Harry grinning, "I cannot catch the snitch; what do you think will happen to your money?"

"Don't worry about me," Ron said with a sigh, "Worry about yourself; can you really live your life in peace, knowing that Charlie had topped you? Just imagine the snicker he will throw your way and the snide remarks he will make..."

Harry groaned, burying his head in his palms.

"And remember that," continued Ron, "even Dad had betted on this match."

Harry groaned once again and whispered, "I'm going to kick your arse."

Ron smiled and to Ginny's surprise, turned to her and said, "Stop hiding now. And an advice, don't try to make a career in Law Enforcement, you suck at hiding."

"Who are you?" said Ginny as she stomped towards them, "and what have you done to Ron? My brother was not like this."

"This was Hermione and George's idea actually," said Ron smiling, "I'm just an actor, but Harry, the part about me betting my life savings is very true."

"Bugger off," said Harry, shoving him away, "I don't care about your ruddy savings."

Ginny nodded and Ron walked away, grinning like a lunatic.

"When did your family turned like this?" asked Harry as they walked aimlessly.

"I am wondering that myself," said Ginny with a scowl, "I mean they organised all of this without telling me; I feel so left out."

"Drawbacks of being my girlfriend," said Harry kissing the crown of her head.

"Still the pros outweigh the cons," said Ginny smiling, and Harry smiled automatically.

"What am I going to do today?" Harry groaned, his mood suddenly turning grave, "I haven't touched a broom for months, much less played Quidditch and I can bet all of them have been practicing; that would explain their disappearances in the morning and afternoon this past week."

"Yeah," said Ginny, "I'm going to give them a piece of my mind when this is over. And don't worry, you will do fine Harry."

"What if I lose?" said Harry turning to look at her, his eyes beseeching to her, "And I have a feeling, if I lose, I will have a lot of scorching glares to deal with for the rest of my life."

"I believe in you Harry," Ginny said, "And you know what, I will just go to George and bet my money on you."

Harry smiled once again and continued walking silently, Ginny by her side.

"Aren't you excited to see what they have done to our small paddock?" asked Ginny excitedly, her eyes twinkling like a little child as she looked in the direction of the paddock.

"I am," said Harry in a weary voice, "just a little bit. I feel like the younger me again, going to a Quidditch match for the first time."

"Aww…" said Ginny smiling, "You will do fine."

"You said it before too," said Harry with a smile and Ginny smacked his arm as she said,

"No I did not."

"Hey Harry," came a slightly familiar voice.

Harry turned and saw Oliver waving to him. Harry waved back at him as he jogged toward him.

"How are you Harry?" asked Oliver as they both shared a firm handshake.

"Going good captain," said Harry with a smile.

"Don't call me that," Oliver said with a smile and Ginny could not help but notice a long scar, extending through the deep of his neck to his left ear which hadn't escaped Harry's eyes too Ginny noted.

"Hey Ginny, nice seeing you," Oliver added as she saw Ginny.

Ginny smiled and said, "Nice seeing you too."

With that, Ginny moved back a little, giving boys their space, while still being in the distance from where she could see and listen to their conversation.

"How did you get this?" asked Harry a little unnerved.

"This one," said Oliver pointing at it with his fingers and Harry nodded, "It was nothing, a ruddy Death Eater attacked me from behind, but I got him with a punch to his face." He finished grinning and Harry felt a little bad.

As Ginny saw Harry's reaction, she realised that everyone who would be here today would have some scars on them which would depict the tale of their heroic fight in Hogwarts, telling everyone that these were the people whose heart were bigger than anything they would ever see, that these were the people who were fed up with Lord Voldemort and believed in Harry so much that they jumped in the war with both their feet with just a simple call of help, not caring about their own lives. This thought made Ginny's heart swell with pride as she gazed at Harry.

"Where are you lost Harry?" asked Oliver, shaking him slightly.

"Nothing," said Harry smiling.

"I'm sure you would have interesting stories for us," said Oliver grinning, "And just to let you know, I don't plan on going home tonight."

"So tonight is going to be a big night," said Harry grinning.

"Definitely," Oliver replied grinning, "And you know what the funny thing is."

"What?" asked Harry and it seemed as he had completely forgotten about Ginny. However, Ginny was all right with it; if anything, she was happy for Harry right now.

"We have a really important practice session today," said Oliver with a grin, "And some hotshot from our team management is going to come to watch it."

"So how come you are here?" asked Harry.

"That's the catch Harry," said Oliver winking at him, "I just told them I was called for the Quidditch match Weasley's have organised and boom, I had the day off. They even gave me tomorrow off for recuperating."

"They knew about it?" asked Harry in surprise.

"You don't know Harry?" Oliver asked Harry.

Harry shook his head at this, which made Oliver laugh aloud as he said, "Everyone knows about this. _Daily Prophet_ has been running stories about this supposedly legendary match for days now."

"Figures," said Harry with a heavy sigh, "I didn't even know about this."

"But don't worry about them being here," said Oliver in a relaxed tone, "Ministry of Magic have been giving out fake clues that the match venue is one of the legendary Quidditch field. So I think those reporters will stay far away from here."

"Can't I do anything without making into the headline?" sighed Harry as he grumbled darkly.

"I don't think so mate," said Oliver, "If they found you pissing in a corner Harry, even that will become front page news."

Harry groaned and said,

"No offence, but I don't remember you being so cheerful and talkative," accused Harry as he looked at him with arched eyebrow.

"We just never met to discuss something other than Quidditch Harry," replied Oliver casually, "And remember, those times were really stressful for Gryffindor Quidditch team and anyway, do you know how much time I have spent with George and Fred? Try as you might, but they do end up rubbing themselves on you."

Harry agreed with a smile as he remembered how much havoc the two used to cause in their time at Hogwarts.

"Hey Harry," came yet another slightly familiar voice.

Ginny turned in the direction of voice and saw Lee jogging towards Harry.

"How are you doing Harry?" asked Lee as they shook hands.

"Good," said Harry, "What about you?"

"Fine as a Bludger," said Lee, looking around, "Hey Oliver; glad that you could make it."

"Wouldn't miss it for my life," said Oliver winking.

Lee grinned, turned to Harry and asked, "Where is George by the way?"

"No idea," said Harry as he saw Lee looking around.

"Excuse me," said Lee as he spotted something in the distance, "but duty calls."

Smiling, he bounded off in the distance.

"Hey Harry," said Oliver, "Do you have any idea where Charlie is?"

"Sure," said Harry, "The last I saw him, he was headed towards the broom shed."

"Thanks," said Oliver and continued with a sheepish expression, "but where is the broom shed."

Ginny smiled seeing Harry blush as he gave instructions to Oliver.

"Thanks." Said Oliver as he sprinted towards the broom shed.

"Hey Ginny," Harry said, turning around, only to realise Ginny had moved a little behind him, "Who are you hiding from?"

"I'm not hiding," said Ginny, "You just looked so happy talking to them, that I didn't want to disturb you."

Harry smiled and said,

"You don't disturb me."

Ginny smiled adoringly as she shook her head.

"I know, I meant I didn't want to distract you."

"Well… that is possible," Harry said grinning.

**X/|\X/|\X/|\X**

Harry and Ginny continued walking around the Burrow as they met with many of their friends, both from Hogwarts and Order. Ginny noticed that Harry was really happy to see them, and Ginny thanked Merlin for that.

"I think we should turn around," said Harry as he suddenly stopped.

"Why?" asked Ginny.

"Did you forget," said Harry, "The Charms Bill set up ends somewhere around here, and I hope you do remember that a reporter or two always lurk around here."

"I still haven't forgiven you for saving Rita," Ginny accused Harry with a grin and Harry just smiled. He indeed had stopped Ginny from hexing Rita into next week once when she had started snapping pictures of them when they both were admiring the night sky.

"Hey Harry," came Ron's voice and Ginny turned around and saw Ron running towards them, sweat drops gleaming on his face.

"What?" Harry asked, irritated.

"Mum is calling you," said Ron and add as if he had just remembered, "Match will start in an hour or something."

"Thank you for the grave news," said Harry with a sour face, "And tell your Mum that Ginny and I will be coming in a minute."

"Okay," said Ron, still grinning like an idiot and Ginny had a momentary urge to wipe that grin off his face.

Harry and Ginny strolled around for some more time for no apparent reason, but just for living in the moment and for basking in the relief the others presence gave but like every good thing it came to an end, and soon they started heading back toward the Burrow.

"About time," muttered Ron, "I thought that you dumped us."

"It crossed my mind," said Harry with a smile as he entered.

"Harry," said her Mum as she engulfed Harry into a hug, "I was worried about you."

Ginny sighed in sympathy as she saw Harry been engulfed in her Mum's hug. Harry was the only one on whom her Mum had still been fussing on like mad, and partly it was Harry's fault was for not resisting her Mum's over-protecting nature.

"I'm fine Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, his cheeks burning red with embarrassment, "I'm really fine Mrs. Weasley."

"Mum," whined Ron, "are you going to set up the food; I'm dying to eat something."

"You can wait Ron," said her Mum sternly as she pulled herself away from the hug and Harry heaved a sigh of relief and mouthed "_Thank you_" to him.

Ron just smiled and turned to head out in the orchard, where the table was set up since they could not fit everyone inside.

Harry followed everyone outside and his eyes went round as saucer as he saw the massive form of Hagrid in one corner.

"Hagrid," shouted Harry as he ran towards him.

"'Arry," said Hagrid in a gruff tone as he turned his massive body towards him.

Ginny saw this from a corner and turned around when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"What do you need Hermione?" asked Ginny in an irritated tone as she remembered what Ron had said.

"Did I do something wrong?" enquired Hermione as she looked at her Ginny quizzically.

"Oh yes you did," said Ginny scathingly.

"Are you going to tell me what I did wrong?" Hermione asked with an exasperated sigh, "Or are we going to play this game."

This threw Ginny off track because she had expected Hermione to change the topic, not talk about it and behave as if she genuinely did not know what she was talking about.

"Fine," said Ginny a little unsure of herself, "You knew about the Quidditch match?"

"Oh..." said Hermione, "it is about that."

"Yes it is about that," said Ginny, and she only had a shrewd idea about what Hermione meant.

"You do know Ginny that I and as well as others, meant to surprise you," said Hermione with a warm expression, "You do know that I wouldn't have kept it from you if I could've helped it, but George made me promise."

"So how come Harry got to know before me?" demanded Ginny as she pouted at her.

"Harry knew?" asked Hermione sharply and Ginny's eyes glinted as she looked over her shoulder at Ron who had joined Harry and Hagrid, and an evil smile came on her lips.

"Ron told him yesterday," said Ginny as she looked back at Hermione, feeling no guilt about ratting Ron out, "He said that the other decided to tell him a day before me."

"That was not what we planned," said Hermione seriously, as she glared at Ron, "I'm going to talk to him."

Ginny grinned and nodded, and they both started walking towards Hagrid.

"Good to see you Hagrid," said Hermione cheerfully and Hagrid pulled her in a hug.

Ginny smiled from her position but it was only until Hagrid didn't see her.

"Ginny," said Hagrid and pulled her in a hug. Ginny's face was pushed against Hagrid's stomach and Ginny felt like she would suffocate. It was not as if Hagrid had not hugged her before, but she swore that she never came this close to suffocating.

"Thanks Hagrid," said Ginny awkwardly as she patted her hair down.

"What brings you here Hagrid?" asked Ginny as she looked back and saw everyone setting the table, even Hermione's parents. It made Ginny feel guilty and she started to look for a reason to leave the group to help them.

"Charlie called me for seeing the match," said Hagrid with a smile, his giant figure making his smile look a little intimidating, "Wanted to talk to Charlie about Norbetta, you see. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick are here too." Hagrid added after a bit of silence.

"I remembered something Hagrid," said Hermione as she glared at Ron.

"Me too Hagrid," said Ron as he followed Hermione, looking as confused as ever.

Ginny looked behind her and saw that others were still busy preparing the table.

"Excuse me Hagrid," said Ginny as he started to head toward the table, leaving Harry alone.

Ginny quietly picked up a stack of new plates and started arranging them neatly on the table. She continued working silently, keeping herself busy with one thing or another as she helped all around the table.

"You must be Ginny," said Mrs. Granger with a warm smile.

Ginny nodded her head, putting the plates she had been holding on the table.

"Mind if I ask you something?" asked Mrs. Granger with a shifty look towards Hermione that told Ginny that it was about Hermione.

"Umm... sure," Ginny said, a little unsure about what the question might be.

"Is there something going on between Harry and umm... Hermione?" asked Mrs. Granger in a small voice and Ginny gawked at her for a mixture of reasons.

When Ginny did not reply for many moments, Mrs. Granger said hastily, "You must be thinking what a horrible parent I am, trying to keep tab on my daughter."

"Erm... no, I don't think so Mrs. Granger," said Ginny after a bit of silence as she composed the stray thoughts in her minds in a meaningful line, "And no, there is nothing going on between Harry and Hermione except friendship although I can understand what you mean."

"You do?" said Mrs. Granger and without waiting for her answer, she continued albeit Ginny did nod, "It's just that she talked so much about him and that boy, Ron, more about him though."

"Well," said Ginny with a somewhat bitter smile, "When you are on a run together for a year, I suppose you do get fond of each other and those three had been friends for eight years now; I would have been more amazed if she hadn't told you about them."

"She always did talk about those two," said Mrs. Granger with a glazed look in her eyes, "From the very first letter she sent us; though I have to confess I never thought that they will become such good friends, she used to complain about them so much that it got annoying and then one day suddenly, she became their friend."

Ginny continued to chat with Mrs. Granger for a while before she realised that everyone had gathered around the table.

Smiling, Mrs. Granger took her leave, going to find her husband. Ginny had an idea where he would be since her own Dad had been missing for a while now.

"Ginny," came Dean's voice and Ginny turned in the direction of voice and sure enough, their stood Dean with Seamus.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ginny and then corrected herself, "I mean, it's really good seeing you here, but I thought you couldn't come." She finished fabricating a smooth lie to cover up her awkward start.

"Ah yes," said Dean, shifting his weight on his feet, "I changed my mind; after all this is the 'legendary match' if _Prophet_ is to be believed."

Ginny groaned and was happy that Harry was not here; she could just imagine the expressions he would have on his face if he heard it.

"Can't they leave us alone?" sighed Ginny and promised herself that she would read _Daily Prophet_ from on, at least she would try to skip through it. However, she was not sure if her Mum had taken the re-subscription of _Daily Prophet_ after she had stopped it in Ginny's sixth year because of all the lies they had been printing about Harry. Moreover, it seemed as if they had not learnt from their past mistakes but at least these lies seemed to be in Harry's favour.

"... getting attention too," Dean seemed to be still going on about something, so Ginny focused her attention on him, "I mean since the war back in Hogwarts, reporters have been following us like shadows, trying to pry out any piece of information we could give them. Now I know why Harry hated this attention; they just don't leave you alone."

Ginny nodded her consent and Seamus added in an undertone, which was loud enough that Ginny could hear him clearly, "You didn't seem to hate it when a couple of girls came for your autographs."

Dean glared at Seamus as Ginny laughed, shaking her head, amused.

"Hey Ginny," came George's voice, "Want to bet?"

"Hmm..." said Ginny as she remembered the promise she had made to Harry, "Sure."

George gave her a dazzling smile and said, "Talk to Lee."

"Why not you?" asked Ginny.

"I am a player," said George puffing out his chest for show, but it did not humour Ginny but it did not seem to down George's spirit, "Do you think it will be good for me to get my hands dirty with this bookie business? Lee is managing it."

"But didn't you started it?" said Ginny bluntly and it only made George grin bigger.

"You wouldn't understand Gin-Gin," said George, reminding Ginny of her horrible nickname they had coined, "You are still a kid."

"We will see who the kid is when I will whoop your arse in the match,' growled Ginny and heard the noises of snickering coming from behind her. Ginny turned around and threw a nasty look at Dean and Seamus.

She turned back and saw George had gone away. Sighing in frustration, Ginny walked around, her eyes searching for Lee.

"Hey Lee," shouted Ginny as she saw him writing something on a parchment.

"Hey," said Lee and Ginny saw him stowing the parchment away in a hurry.

"What was that?" asked Ginny as she walked towards him.

"Nothing," said Lee, and continued before Ginny had the time to enquire further, "What brings you to me?"

"What do you think?" said Ginny in an irritated voice; she was really getting fed up of everyone today.

As if a switch had flipped inside Lee's head, he continued in a business like voice,

"How much do you want to bet?"

"Maybe two Galleons," said Ginny with a shrug and Lee looked at her as if Ginny had sprouted horns.

"What?" asked Ginny, getting unnerved because Lee constant staring.

"You know that even Ron betted 6 Galleons," said Lee in a casual tone.

"He had that much," Ginny said, disbelief written all over her face and continued to almost herself, "No wonder he was being so serious about that."

"So what do you think?" asked Lee, "Want to increase your wager?"

"No," said Ginny in a regretful sigh, "This is all I had."

"Okay," said Lee, "Pay up."

"Now?" asked Ginny.

"Yes," said Lee, "Let me guess, this is your first bet ever."

"No, of course not," said Ginny without missing a beat.

"I mean, _real_ bet," said Lee emphasising 'real', "not the silly ones one makes with their friends or family."

"Oh… yes," confessed Ginny.

"I thought so," said Lee, "Bring the money and we will put your wager."

"Why are you making such a fuss out of it anyway?" asked Ginny angrily.

Lee did not say anything; he just pulled out a bundled newspaper, flattened it on the wall and all but shoved it in Ginny's face.

Ginny snatched the newspaper from his hand and read it. On the front page, in bold letters was written, "**A new page in Quidditch history**."

"Seriously?" Ginny hummed to herself.

"Yes," replied Lee, "So as you see now, this is a big deal. If someone could get _Prophet_ the pics from the match, they will be in for a dirty load of Galleons or so I have heard."

"So why don't you lot just start snapping pictures instead of mugging people off their money?" said Ginny.

"First, we are not mugging people off their money," said Lee with pride, "And second, you wouldn't understand. However, if you don't want to bet, then don't. But just to let you know, except your Mum, Harry and Charlie everyone here had placed a bet."

"Everyone?" said Ginny her eyebrows arching in wonder, "Even Hermione and Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, even them," said Lee as he looked at his wristwatch, "And if you don't want to place a bet, leave me alone; I have some work to do."

Ginny scowled at him, turned around and stomped to her room. Fishing into her closet, Ginny fished out her small purse and emptied it out on her hands.

Ginny sighed as she counted her savings; three Galleons, fourteen Sickles and two Knuts.

With heavy heart, Ginny took the three Galleons and dumped the rest back in her purse as she sighed,

"Harry you better catch that snitch."

"Here," said Ginny as she reluctantly handed her money to Lee, after coming out of the Burrow.

"Increased your wager after all," said Lee with a smile as he saw three Galleons in her hand. He took them, dumped them into a pouch and asked her, "Who would you like to bet on?"

"Do I really need to say?" said Ginny in a resigned voice.

"It will be better," said Lee, looking uninterested, "so yes."

"Harry," said Ginny and Lee noted it down on the parchment, but Ginny had said his name because she had spotted him, not to Lee, but it was not as if it mattered anyway.

"What are you doing here Ginny?" asked Harry as he came closer, "Hey Lee."

"Hey Harry," said Lee grinning, "What do you think about placing a bet?"

"I'll pass," said Harry chuckling.

"And yes," said Harry as if he suddenly remembered something, "Mrs. Weasley is calling everyone for eating, then we had to go for the match."

Ginny noticed that Harry was not scoffing anymore at the mention of match and she figured that he must have solved everything with Ron.

Ginny nodded and started heading back to the orchard while Lee said that he would be there in a moment.

Harry jogged up to her and they started walking together. When they reached the orchard, Ginny saw that everyone had already settled around on chairs. Ginny was momentarily taken aback by the massive size of the table. It almost started from one boundary and stretched to the end.

"Sit down Ginny," whispered Harry as he led her to an empty chair.

"Okay," said Ginny unconsciously as she slid into a chair.

"Hey Ginny," said Hermione, "Snap out of it."

"Erm... ah... yes Hermione," Ginny said, as she looked at Hermione, "What were you saying?"

"Nothing," said Hermione as she sighed, "Just concentrate here."

"Okay," said Ginny but suddenly a question sprang in her mind, "Hermione how was Mum able to cook for all these people. It's like a small gathering; I'm guessing there are around thirty forty people."

"Your Mum didn't cook it alone," said Hermione with an amused expression, "She had help. Fleur, Angelina, Katie, me, Mrs. Tonks, Neville's Gran and some members from Order helped us. And even Luna tried to help us, but no one let her."

"I can't understand," Ginny sighed turning to her, "How can a simple Quidditch match turn into something this bothersome and big? If I had been an outsider, I would have thought that it was a gathering of a rather large family."

"It does seem that way," said Hermione smiling as he looked at her parents who seemed to be bewildered because of all the magic around them, "but honestly, it was planned to be just a Quidditch game, but see what it turned out as. Words spread and everyone started asking us if it was true. We confirmed and then one thing led to another, and now we have this big gathering here."

"Still," said Ginny, not sure what she was referring to.

"If you are talking about the lunch," said Hermione, piling her plate as a charmed tray hovered above her plate, "your Mum insisted on that. She said that she would love to cook for everyone who will join us today. But no one would let your Mum do it alone, so we all agreed to help her."

"Okay," said Ginny not sure what she was going to say after that, so she just busied herself by piling her plate.

"But what do you think about this little gathering?" asked Hermione as she started eating.

"I think it is good," said Ginny as she too, started eating, "I mean, we needed that and it is always good to see friends. However, I am not sure if I like this betting thing; it just turned everyone so nervous as if his or her life is on the line. That reminds me; didn't you put a wager in the bet too?"

Hermione blushed as she said,

"Well, I couldn't resist; I mean almost everyone put on a wager on either Harry or Charlie and I thought since I had some money to spare, why not go with the flow."

"That don't make sense Hermione," said Ginny, "And say, who did you bet on?"

"Nah... I'm not telling you," said Hermione pointedly and as Ginny opened her mouth to protest, Hermione added, "I don't want to jinx it."

Ginny just sighed as she looked around the massive table.

"Why are some chairs still empty?" Ginny asked out of boredom as she pointed at a bunch of empty chairs.

"Some people have not arrived yet," said Hermione nonchalantly, "Neville, Kingsley etc." Hermione finished in an unconcerned tone.

"But didn't you say that Neville Gran was helping you in the kitchen?" asked Ginny.

"She is here," said Hermione pointing at her. Ginny looked in the direction and saw her sitting farther down from her, "but she said that Neville has some work to do, however he will be here before the match starts."

"And I just remember," said Ginny as she remembered the earlier part of her conversation, "I never saw Luna or the others."

"Well, you would have if you have stayed put in the house," said Hermione, almost accusingly, "You were out all the time, and even Harry helped us before he went off to play with Ted."

"Ted is here?" asked Ginny dumbfound.

"Do you think Mrs. Tonks would have left a year old child alone Ginny," said Hermione as if Ginny had mortally offended her, "Sometimes you are just too much."

Ginny smiled embarrassed, as she looked everywhere but at Hermione.

The rest of the lunch passed silently and all Ginny could do was staring at Harry, who — Ginny noticed just then — was playing with Ted. Ron seemed to make him cackle by making weird faces and Ginny felt bad for not helping out with anything. She felt so useless.

Eating as fast as possible without being impolite, Ginny stood up and made her way to the kitchen, where she put the dirty plate.

"Hey Ginny," came Harry's voice from behind her, "Want to play with Teddy?"

Ginny turned around and saw Teddy in his hands and Ginny smiled, as she saw Harry trying to shift Ted into a comfortable position.

"You don't…" Ginny began but shut herself off as she just took Teddy in her arms. He looked at her with his big soulful eyes, which made Ginny heart churn with adoration and Ginny saw that Ted hair started to change his hair from black to red to mirror hers. Ginny smiled and Ted flailed her little fist, smiling as drool slipped out of the corner of his months. Ginny lightly pressed his little nose with her own, cooed, turned to Harry and said,

"Harry he is so cute."

"I know."

"Can I hold him for a little while?" Ginny asked him as she blinked at him innocently.

"Sure," said Harry laughing.

"Hey Harry come out," came George voice. Harry looked at her with an apologetic voice and headed towards the door.

However, Ginny could not care less. She sat on the floor her back leaning against the wall as she made silly faces and threw Teddy in the air because he seemed to love it.

Ginny did not know how much time passed since she started playing with Teddy, but she did not care. She was enjoying keeping him company or rather Teddy was keeping her company with his ever-changing physique.

"Hey Ginny," came someone voice and Ginny turned to look at the new arrival.

"Hey," said Ginny, a smile on her lips as she saw Luna.

"Little Teddy keeping you happy?" asked Luna in her usual dreamy state and Ginny nodded laughing; Luna was the only one who could have said this and she was right.

She sat beside her and Teddy took a sudden interest in Luna as he stared at her, a curious expression on his little face.

"Hey little Teddy," said Luna, leaning towards him. Teddy flailed his arms and suddenly made a move to grab Luna eyes.

"I think he likes you," Ginny said smiling as she saw the little exchange.

"I think nargals are surrounding him," said Luna with a serious expression which made Ginny wonder for a second if nargals were actually surrounding Teddy, "You should go outside with little Teddy; see nargals don't like sunlight."

"Okay," Ginny said as she stood up. It was time for the match already.

"Ginny," came Ron's bellowing voice, "come out; we are going to the paddock for the match."

"Coming," Ginny shouted and then continued in a small voice, "He doesn't have to shout like this; it's not like I am suffering from Dragon Pox."

"Took you long enough," grumbled Ron as Ginny came out of the Burrow.

"Shut up already," said Ginny throwing him a nasty glare.

"Ginny," came Harry's voice and Ginny turned around to look at him.

"Can I have Teddy now?" he asked and Ginny stared at him quizzically, "It's just that Mrs. Tonks was looking for him and I said he was with you, but I think it will be better if I return Teddy to her as soon as possible."

Ginny nodded and reluctantly handed Teddy to him. He did not make any move or sound that insinuated that he missed her and Ginny sighed heavily in resignation. Today suddenly just didn't look like her day anymore.

"Where are you lost Ginny?" asked Hermione, tapping on her shoulder.

"Nothing," said Ginny with a sigh, "Just commiseration over all the blunders I have made today, including ignoring almost everyone, being selfish, unhelpful…"

"Cut it out Ginny," said Hermione, "Everyone had these days; it's just too bad that you are facing yours today. And anyway, aren't you excited about the match?"

"Am I supposed to be?" asked Ginny in a dull voice, and then not even waiting for Hermione's answer, she continued, "Well I guess I should be. I play or at least used to play Quidditch."

"Everyone listen up," came Kingsley deep booming voice, "Charlie and Harry are going to select their team."

Ginny ears perked up as she heard Kingsley's announcement. Like everyone else, her eyes turned to the makeshift platform where Harry, Charlie and Kingsley were standing.

"Okay," said Kingsley, "Time for a toss."

Kingsley fished in his pocket and took out a Galleon.

"Minister," came Lee's voice full of mirth, "you said you betted every last Knut you had; where did that came from?"

"Well a Minister needs to have his backup," Kingsley said smiling and continued, "Head or tails Harry."

"Heads," said Harry as Kingsley threw the Galleon up in the air. After a bit of flipping upwards, the coin started to make its descent downwards, still flipping and halted to a stop with a soft _thump_ as it landed on the platform.

"Charlie," said Kingsley as Charlie punched the air like a hormonal teenager, "Seems as you will pull the first name."

Saying that, Kingsley flicked his wand and a bowl materialised in front of him. He fished out a piece of paper from it and as soon as it pulled it out, it blasted with a bang and Ginny's name flashed in the sky and Ginny groaned audibly. Today was not her day for sure.

With heavy steps, Ginny walked to the platform and stood there without even glancing at Charlie.

"Harry your turn," said Kingsley and Ginny heard the bang and heard Harry calling George's name who whopped in happiness.

Soon the selection was done and team were like this.

Charlie got Ginny, Oliver, Angelina, Seamus, Bill and Alicia; while Harry got, Ron, George, Dean, Katie, Alicia and Terry.


End file.
